Sound system upgrade for KKL Luzern Concert Hall

Walters-Storyk Design Group (WSDG) has completed its upgrade to the retractable electro acoustical system at the KKL Luzern Concert Hall in Switzerland.

The project, which was carried out by WSDG’s international team of acoustics experts, involved the installation of a new sound reinforcement system.

The venue’s set-up now consists of a main system featuring two line arrays of eight d&b audiotechnik V12 units each – suspended above the stage’s front edge – two additional line arrays for covering each of the balconies with five d&b V12s, a stage edge in-fill system of two d&b V-Sub and two d&b V12 units each on the right and left and a stage-mounted front-fill provided by six d&b E6 units. For events requiring 360-degree speech reproduction, a retractable centre cluster was provided with a front section (consisting of eleven d&b T10 units) and a rear section (comprising three RCF VSA 2050 digitally controlled column loudspeakers).

The d&b V12 units have a nominal horizontal dispersion of 120-degrees, while vertical tilting is variable from 0 to 14 degrees. The passive three-way units are equipped with two 10-inch low frequency drivers, a horn loaded eight-inch midrange driver and two 1.4-inch high frequency drivers mounted on a dedicated waveguide. The d&b V-Sub units hold a forward radiating 18-inch driver in a bass reflex enclosure and a rear-firing 12-inch driver in a two-chamber band pass enclosure.

Amplification is provided by d&b D12 units, which allow for precise tailoring to the installation parameters. "Beyond their sonic qualities we also really like the aesthetics of the new system, being an inconspicuous, slim line array," said technical director Tjark Kuhlmei. "With the subs on stage, we can flexibly adjust the low frequency reproduction as required, or not use them at all, for example for pure speech events.”

Signal transport from the Yamaha DME System DSP to the amplifiers is achieved via digital AES / EBU at a 96kHz sample rate.

Designed by Jean Nouvel and opened in 2000, the KKL Luzern Concert Hall offers some unusual sound properties, including a very low quietness level of below 20 dB and mechanically variable room acoustics via the large echo chambers surrounding the hall.

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