The Wanhe Grand Theatre is a performance venue situated in the Wanhe Shopping Mall of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China and can seat approximately 500 people. It installed Powersoft M Series amplifiers to power its EAW KF720 PA house system. The products were supplied by Powersoft distributor Shenzhen EZpro Sound & Light Technology Co., Ltd.
The architectural layout of the venue brought unique challenges for its sound system design. Featuring nine 6 x 5 meters concave ceilings and a glass lighting fixture as its centrepiece, sound interference and focussing issues were experienced.
Lian Xuejun explained: “The concave surface directs the sound reflection to a specific area, making it louder here and there and almost impossible to achieve consistent coverage.†After modelling with EAW Resolution and EASE 4.0 software, Lian specified a complete EAW house system featuring the KF720 three-way line arrays. The Powersoft M28Q and M50Q were his amplifiers of choice.
The PA system adopted a stereo configuration: the left and right line array, each consisting of six KF720 modules, are hung separately on the splayed walls on both sides of the stage, providing even coverage for the entire space.
To meet the theatre's aesthetic requirements, all subwoofers and monitors were installed and hidden within the walls consisting of six EAW NTS250 subwoofers, three on each side installed in the splayed walls. Four further EAW MK8126iU enclosures were installed on the proscenium wall, alongside four EAW VFM129 full range loudspeakers acting as mobile stage monitors.
Lian added: “The nominal coverage angle of KF720 line array speakers is 110°(H)x12°(V), which perfectly avoids the concave ceiling and help minimize interference, which effectively helps to improve the speech intelligibility.â€
To cater for other function needs, the theatre also installed eight EAW CR72z two-way, passive full range loudspeakers on the side and back walls of the audience area to provide for a true immersive surround experience.
A 40 channel digital mixing system comprising Allen & Heath’s GLD112 Control Interface, AR2412 and AR0804 AudioRacks handles the audio control and mixing. All PA systems are optimized via an EAW UX8800 digital signal processor and powered by Powersoft M series digital amplifiers – three M28Q and four M50Q.