Home to the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and nominated for Sweden’s prestigious Kasper Salin Prize for architecture, the new Malmö Live complex is quickly establishing itself as a hub of cultural excellence. Alongside a congress centre, five-star hotel, two restaurants, a bar with views across the city and a flexible performance space called the Cube, the 1,600-capacity concert hall its centrepiece.
‘We wanted to achieve two things,’ begins Kristian Ahlmark, senior partner at architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen, ‘an absolutely world-class sound and a room with a musicality that works with the music, like sitting inside an instrument. The result is a composition of cubic elements. Each surface has a function, angle and size that supports the acoustics. Light is integrated into the walls so the mood can be changed depending on what is being performed in the hall.’
The audio installation for both the concert hall and the smaller Cube venue were put out to a public procurement tender. From more than half a dozen submissions, Arva Trading beat off the competition to secure the project. ‘The tender documents demanded a very high technical standard,’ says Technical Manager, Ronny Sjöstrand. ‘We supplied an Ease simulation of the concert hall with specification for SPL, STI value and equivalent SPL, frequency and STI on every one of the 1,600 seats.’
The loudspeaker system nominated comprised d&b audiotechnik Vi boxes with T10 and Yi for the delay system. T10s with V-GSubs were also specified for the Cube room. The total project also included sound installation for other parts of this huge complex, which has been described as ‘a city within a city’; it stretches to 54,000m2. For Arva, it represents months planning and installation work.
Despite the concert hall being home to the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the d&b installation has to accommodate broad range of musical performance, from orchestral pieces to heavy metal rock – indeed, the opening concert featured both these genres. Once the contract was secured, Sjöstrand consulted with Jonas Wagner and Boris Rehders from d&b Application Support. ‘Although this is a purpose built room, there were still areas that required some imaginative solutions to ensure even coverage throughout the hall,’ explains Wagner. ‘On the first floor balconies, both behind and left and right of the stage, we mounted 8S loudspeakers recessed into the ceiling. Aside from the aesthetic impact for FOH, where they are installed behind the stage, the speakers can be used as monitors for the choir platform when required. A rather unique solution but one that worked perfectly here.’
At 45m long, 23m wide and 20m high, the hall is almost twice as long as it is wide, making the support of the Yi delay system a most important aspect of the sound design. Yi12s were used for the second balcony and Yi8s for fills, while T10s were employed at the front of the stage and for the side balcony delays. High-power D80 amplifiers were used to drive the main arrays of Vi8 and Vi12 loudspeakers; the 10D amplifier, specifically designed for permanent installations was the choice to drive the fills and delays.
The complexity of the installation also required the new d&b DS10 Audio network bridge, which offers an interface between Dante and the AES3 digital inputs of d&b amplifiers while also providing distribution of Ethernet control data. Each unit is able to provide up to 16 AES3 output channels via the Dante audio transport protocol through Ethernet, allowing for a significant reduction in cabling requirements as a large analogue multicore is not required, therefore producing a reduction in time and cost as well as the impact on the building’s infrastructure.
‘Here at Arva, as Sweden’s exclusive distributor for d&b audiotechnik, we are used to embarking on high profile projects, but Malmö Live is a very special venue,’ Sjöstrand concludes, ‘We are especially happy that both the consulting company and the concert house are so pleased with the result.’
More: www.dbaudio.com
