Solid State Logic Live mixing and Amadeus Audio’s recently-released PMX 12 D loudspeakers are at the centre of the Arts & Creative Technology Center (ACT), in Gwangju, South Korea. Launched with a major festival and exhibition, ACT Center holds a dynamic year-round programme of activities bring leading Asian and international artists together to collaborate, and inspire.
One of the centre’s primary resources is the Arts & Technology Convergence Lab, which is a breeding ground for new work in media arts, interaction design, engineering and digital fabrication. The centre will also research, produce, exhibit and distribute innovative contents and artworks that demonstrate the creative use of emerging technology, cultural diversity and traditions of Asia.
The ACT Center is part of the Asian Culture Center (ACC), one of the major cultural initiatives of the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Located on the site of the former provincial government building, ACC hosts several institutions and facilities that include the ACT Center, the Research Institute for Asian Culture, Library & Archive, Center for Children, multiple theatres and exhibition halls.
The Amadeus PMX 12 D speakers installed in the ACT Center feature built-in 24/96 DSP, along with analogue, AES3 and Dante inputs. Their drivers comprise a coaxial 12-inch woofer and a 2-inch tweeter with compression driver bi-amplified using two high-resonance digital amplifiers. The PPM-PWM fixed frequency class-D amplifiers are equipped with a high-efficiency switched mode power supply, delivering 1.5kW (LF)/400W (HF).
‘We were among the first manufacturers of electroacoustical equipment to look into audio transfers over Internet Protocol,’ says Amadeus R&D Director, Michel Deluc. ‘We are committed to minimising latency as well as unnecessary AD/DA conversions that impact signal quality. This started ten years ago, the year we wrapped up development of our first line of bi-amped coaxial systems featuring EtherSound I/O, which was designed for the French Institute for Research & Coordination Acoustic/Music (IRCAM). The technological gains offered by Dante and its widespread adoption led us to consider its implementation in our systems.’
Each speaker channel is under control by a powerful, 64-bit digital processing unit capable of 118dB dynamic range. Each of onboard DSP units includes a module dedicated to managing core system parameters, including system EQ, time alignment between sections, limiting, and transducer thermal protection. This level of control makes the PMX D Series fully protected and able to operate at the full extent of its abilities. Given that digital-to-analogue conversion should happen at the latest possible stage in an electro-acoustical speaker system, the PMX D Series also integrates two digital inputs/outputs conforming to the AES3 digital audio data transfer standard. These are coupled with a 96kHz, 24-bit converters placed as close as possible to the electronic amplifiers, thus working in perfect combination with them.
‘Before meeting the ACT Center President, I had no sound system installation ideas for this venue, Space 1 (called The Ground) – the room is 70m by 30m with 18m ceilings,’ says C2 Artechnolozy CEO, Dongyup Kwak. ‘The President’s wish was to create a platform for artists, designers, engineers, and researchers to develop forward-thinking ideas, aiming for the ACT Center to become a multicultural interface that fosters knowledge and skill exchange between creatives in Asia and the rest of the world.
‘We proposed a state-of-the-art audiovisual immersive canvas containing among other things, an immersive giant screen, a 3D spatial sound environment, and a multi-layer video mapping system capable of showing the biggest installations,’ he continues. For immersive installations and exhibitions, we had to create an intelligent ceiling, equipped with chain motors, including audio, video and network connections. So, I designed a custom steel truss featuring 64 chain hoists and 64 digital cable reels with Cat5E network cable reels using mercury-whetted contacts.
‘For audio, we selected a Sonic Emotion Wave I 3D wave field synthesis rendering unit for processing of up to 32 input and up to 64 output channels.
‘The piece de resistance within this installation was the speaker system design. The requirements were practically unrealisable. The technical, networking and acoustical constraints pushed us to develop a new series of bi-powered and Dante-enabled point source loudspeakers, allowing remote control of each built-in DSP for an optimal adjustment to the acoustical properties of the listening space. The Amadeus PMX D Series speaker was born from creating the sound system for this installation by enhancing our original PMX speaker design with these new technical capabilities,’ states Gaetan BYK, Marketing Manger at Amadeus.’
The sound system is completed by an SSL Live L300 digital mixing console. ‘There are several significant benefits that are key reasons to implement this network-based routing solution,’ says Philippe Guerinet, Director of International Sales/SSL France Manager. ‘Audio-over-IP allows us to put the stageboxes where needed, with minimal cabling, which in this complex exhibition hall set-up is very important. And it easily lets us connect all kinds of Dante-enabled gear: Amadeus PMX D (Dante-enabled) speaker systems, SSL L300 console, SSL Network I/O stage-boxes, and every other ancillary equipment needed. This approach allows us to solve classic constraints – especially channel count, synchronisation, redundancy, latency and signal distribution – without adding any traditional TDM solution.
‘Last but not least, the technical solutions chosen by ACT ensure total flexibility and an astonishing audio quality, while surprisingly reducing overall cost and making expansion straightforward as well as cost-effective.’
The specially developed Amadeus PMX D Series features a refined Dante I/O section, an onboard 96kHz, 24-bit DSP unit dedicated to managing core system parameters including system EQ, time alignment between sections, limiting, transducer thermal protection.
‘This studio-grade speaker system combined with the legendary sonic signature of SSL is a very good marriage, which makes listeners, attendees and artists very impressed,’ Dongyup Kwak concludes.
