CBC’s Studio 42 at Maison Radio-Canada in Montréal, described as the flagship studio for Canadian TV broadcasting, has had an L-Acoustics ARCS WiFo system installed as part of a significant technical upgrade.

“Le Studio”, as it’s affectionately known in Canada, first opened 42 years ago and has been used for countless awards ceremonies, talk shows, concerts and other live-event programmes over its four-plus decades.

Radio-Canada systems designer Michel Desjardins first heard ARCS WiFo at AES 2015 in New York City.

Designed by Radio-Canada’s technical service team and installed by Solotech, the new sound system comprises one L-Acoustics ARCS Focus enclosure plus one ARCS Wide flown under two SB18 subwoofers per side, with two additional ARCS Focus enclosures per side covering the auditorium’s balcony.

Four L-Acoustics X8 enclosures are positioned under the balcony while six 5XT enclosures (pictured below) serve as front fills. Four additional X8s plus four X12 enclosures are used as near fills, and all of the venue’s existing stage wedges were replaced with 24 X15HiQ enclosures. A grand total of 22 LA4X amplified controllers power and process the entire system, including all of the stage monitors.

“’Le Studio’” has had the same audio system for the last 20 years; hence, an upgrade was a necessity,” said Maurice Latour, Solotech’s sales representative for broadcast applications, who encountered several challenges with Studio 42.

“The most important of them were the reflections on stage and keeping the noise floor on stage as low as possible, while still giving a good audio level for the monitors,” he explained. “They also wanted flexibility with the system, to add or remove speaker zones, so being able to move seamlessly between the different cabinet types was important.”

Solotech integration system designer Sylvain Lemay added: “When considering ARCS WiFo’s precise directivity, high versatility and exceptional value, Michel’s choice was absolutely the right one for this project. Plus, the incredible sound quality of the L-Acoustics systems will undoubtedly continue to help position Studio 42 at the top of the broadcasting studio market for many more years to come.”

http://www.l-acoustics.com/