Delta Live has deployed a L-ISA hyperreal audio system for its BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall this year.

Delta Live’s association with The Proms stretches back nearly two decades with Sound by Design, now incorporated into the Delta group, first working on the events in 2000.

“This is an acoustically tricky venue, and we have refined the design of the systems we put in here over the years, most recently upgrading to an L-Acoustics K2 system to do as much as we could to overcome the room’s reflections,” said Delta account director Stephen Hughes. “That worked well but, with L-ISA, the thing I noticed was that we were not fighting the room anymore. That’s a first.”

“It’s a fantastic listening experience,” he added. “In fact, I don’t want to go back to using a stereo system, especially in a circular room like this; L-ISA is the right way to go.”

Delta’s L-ISA configuration comprises five arrays of 15 L-Acoustics Kara each, positioned equidistantly across the stage, along with four KS28 subwoofers flown centrally. This configuration places 60 per cent of the audience in the ‘L-ISA zone’, the area of coverage which fully benefits from hyperreal sound imaging. A conventional mono fill system covers the remainder of the venue. “That’s excellent for this venue, particularly bearing in mind that we had restrictions on the positions of the rigging points,” explained Hughes.

An X12 was placed either side of the stage, with four X8 positioned across the stage lip as front fill for the first few rows of the audience. A DiGiCo SD5 sat at FOH and the shows were mixed using the console’s native L-ISA Desk Link interface, which connects directly with the L-ISA Controller and outputs to the L-ISA Processor.

“The L-ISA Desk Link on the SD5 has been absolutely amazing,” Hughes concluded. “L-ISA is very adaptable; the 96 inputs it gives you means that you’re not thinking too much about pairing things to Groups. The benefit you get from being able to apportion different sections of the ensemble to different hangs gives a different perspective. It also means less clutter.”

The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of concerts, predominantly held at the Royal Albert Hall, with Cadogan Hall hosting chamber music, and Proms in the Park events held across the UK on The Last Night of the Proms.