Prague’s Hudební divadlo Karlín (Musical Theatre Karlín) hosts operettas and musical productions. To meet these needs, Czech distributor Pro Music recently installed a DiGiCo Quantum 7T with EX-007 fader expansion.
Among the oldest and most beautiful theatres in the Czech Republic, the theatre is the city’s largest after the Prague State Opera. As part of a major update to the technical infrastructure of its main stage, the venue has replaced a large-format analogue desk, which had served it well for many years, with the new Quantum 7T. The venue also has a smaller stage that is already equipped with a DiGiCo SD9 supplied by Pro Music.
‘The analogue console sounded great, so the bar for its replacement was already set quite high,’ says Pro Music’s Petr Šťásek. ‘We recommended the Quantum 7T because of the audio quality of its 32-bit mic preamp, transparent Quantum processing, theatre workflow, huge number of physical faders and large I/O capacity, all of which meant it would be able to deliver sound quality superior to the previous solution. The Quantum 7T is ideal for all genres of performances the venue hosts and, as the theatre’s engineers were already used to having a large number of faders on the analogue console, it was a perfect fit.’
Pro Music also installed an Optocore loop to connect the 32-bit equipped SD-Racks and the Quantum 7T, which also features a Dante DMI module, to the PA and the rest of the house.
‘Optical infrastructure didn’t exist in the theatre, so it had to be built from scratch and then demonstrated and explained in-depth to the technical team,’ Šťásek explains. ‘Some engineers working in the theatre were already experienced DiGiCo SD users, so the training mostly covered theatre-specific functions, Optocore redundant loop, mirroring with the EX-007and Quantum-specific processing.’
Despite uneasy circumstances following Covid restrictions and Brexit, DiGiCo was able to supply the consoles on time which meant that Pro Music was able to install Quantum 7T at Musical Theatre Karlín last autumn, with the theatre successfully using the consoles during its open-air stage during the summer.
Petr Ackerman, the theatre’s Chief Engineer is pleased with the outcome: ‘Great sound was something we were particularly proud of with our old console and initially, we weren’t sure just how much of a difference the new console was going to bring to us,’ he admits. ‘Well, we realised our doubts were completely unfounded the moment we listened to the Quantum 7T. The console just blew our minds. It exceeded all our expectations on sound quality; its level of detail and transparency are just unbelievable.’
‘DiGiCo consoles sound remarkable, have great design features and an ultra-friendly user interface, which is why Pro Music has been a proud distributor of DiGiCo products for many years,’ Šťásek says. ‘The Quantum 7T is one of the fastest and most intelligent consoles the company has created and brings everything theatres need to deliver productions of all sizes and complexity. It has been an absolute pleasure working together with Musical Theatre Karlín, and we are thrilled to bring the new level of sound excellence to this iconic theatre.’
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