Built in 1899 and host to world’s first film festival, the Casino Cultural & Conference Centre now accommodates the annual Chopin Festival as well as the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra. It can be found in the Czech Republic spa town of Mariánské Lázne – one of Europe’s most exclusive destinations, drawing the patronage of British royalty, Frédéric Chopin, Alfred Nobel and Winston Churchill.

The venue contains the Marble Hall, a banquet and concert space with ornate marble walls, pillars, domes and arches that is as acoustically problematic as it is visually stunning. Until recently, the problem was compounded by the use of pole-mounted loudspeaker enclosures.

In 2015, the venue’s management decided to seek out a new audio solution for the space that was simple to use but capable of serving the room’s multi-purpose clientele and grand reputation. The company charged with finding a solution was systems integrator STA Servis, whose Petr Kabat and Tomas Müller engaged Prague-based Audio Digital to join the project as consultant. Their search led them to a system using a Dante-equipped Symetrix Prism 8x8 as its DSP backbone.

‘A very diverse range of events take place in the Marble Hall, from simple presentations to corporate events and banquets and even occasional DJ parties,’ explains Michal Zeman of Audio Digital. ‘Because of that diversity, it was very important that the system was easy for the venue operators to use, but still powerful in terms of its flexibility and reliability.’

The team considered a number of options for sound reinforcement: ‘The difficult acoustics weren’t the only challenge,’ Zeman begins. ‘Another major factor was to maintain the aesthetic appeal of the room, which meant meeting very strict requirements in terms of the system’s visual impact. So we began what felt like a virtually endless loop of designs, acoustic simulations and talks with the authorities.’

‘We have undertaken very challenging installations in many high-profile interiors all over the region, but the Casino Cultural and Conference Centre is at the top of the list of projects where only a perfect finish was good enough,’ adds Radim Řezníček of STA Servis.

In the now completed hall, the majority of the audience area is covered by two TOA wall-mounted coaxial two-way SR-S4L + SR-S4S column speakers. No attention to detail has been spared – even the wall-mounting brackets have been designed to match the interior of the hall. Delays for the rear of the hall are courtesy of two wall-mounted SR-S4S column arrays, while low-end is provided by two Electro-Voice subwoofers that can be added to the set-up when required.

Crucially, the Symetrix Prism 8x8 ties the system together as its Dante-equipped, I/O DSP, providing the required ease of operation.

‘This is a typical example of a venue with almost contradictory requirements – a really complex and feature-rich DSP was necessary but at the same time the user needed a simple-to-use GUI for real time control of the system by non-technical staff,’ Zeman explains. ‘We know Symetrix DSPs combine these two worlds very well in a single unit, and all at a reasonable price point, which is always a big factor in our market. More importantly, we proved that to the integrator, which convinced them that the Prism 8x8 was exactly what they needed.

‘Now the entire DSP and control is done with one Symetrix Prism 8x8 and a bespoke PC GUI. In the Prism, all input and output processing is taken care of including feedback suppressors, equalisation of the speakers and room time alignment, and of course limiter settings for the individual speaker bands.’

According to Zeman, the management of the Casino Cultural and Conference Centre are pleased with the results: ‘The feedback has been extremely positive,’ he reports. ‘The audience coverage achieved with the line arrays is very uniform and the sound is both clear and intelligible with speech or vocals while really powerful with music.’

Again, Řezníček agrees: ‘I was surprised by how dramatically we managed to improve the sound of the venue by simply doing the right thing with the right gear.’

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