The Dongting Lake Museum in China has elevated its visitor experience with a full-scale sound system installed across all exhibition areas, including the underground 5D Theatre. Designed by Wharfedale Pro consultant Marko Jovanović and installed by Minghe Group, the system delivers immersive-ready audio that complements the theatre’s visual mapping, water effects, moving machinery and lighting.
Occupying an expansive 50,864sq-m, the museum is located in Yueyang City, Hunan Province, showcases the history and biodiversity of Dongting Lake. At the heart of the museum’s underground level is the 900sq-m 5D Theatre, which integrates motion, visual effects and interactive environmental elements, and accommodates approximately 200 guests.
Changsha-based Minghe Group collaborated with Wharfedale Pro to handle the challenging sound system design, installation, and optimisation throughout the entire museum. The deployment includes 12 WLA‑115 Hybrid Curvature Array Elements, eight XLA‑118Sub subwoofers (two clusters of four suspended above the theatre), 18 WLA‑210XP Line Array Elements and six WLA‑210XSub Dual 15-inch subs, dedicated to the six ‘moving rooms’. Amplification is provided by Wharfedale Pro DP‑4100N and DP‑2200N Dante-enabled amplifiers.
The sound system design team faced several constraints. Although the ceiling is more than 10m in height, limitations were imposed by the need to maintain clear sight lines for the audience, restricting the length of the loudspeaker arrays. With the stage fully submerged in water during certain parts of the show and dry during others, all main and monitor loudspeakers had to be flown.
Rigging space was at a premium amid numerous lights, projectors and moving props, each mount was carefully negotiated and acoustically assessed. Additionally, the theatre’s L-shaped audience area required custom FOH loudspeaker configuration to ensure even coverage.
Although the current soundtrack is stereo, the system is ready for multitrack immersive audio, anticipating the venue’s evolving needs. The busy rigging grid offered limited optimal loudspeaker positions. However, through careful alignment and acoustic tuning, the team achieved balanced coverage across the corner and side-facing audience sections.
‘Wharfedale Pro helped us turn sound into immersive storytelling,’ a museum representative (via Minghe Group) says. ‘The result speaks for itself. People are staying longer and engaging more deeply with the exhibits thanks to the sound experience.’
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