Leipziger Musical Comedy Relies on Alcons

	Musikalische Komödie theatre interior. Photo Tom Schulze.

The Musikalischen Komödie ("Musical Comedy"), a division of the Leipzig Opera and one of the highest occupied stages in Germany, has decided on a solution from the Dutch sound system manufacturer Alcons Audio.

The focus of the house, which is known far beyond the city limits as "MuKo," is on operettas and musicals, and increasingly also on ballet performances. As the sound system of the auditorium became old, a modern solution was being sought that would satisfy the needs of the 520-seating, acoustically-demanding room and would match the stage program as well.

The company HFE professional studio technology from Leipzig was responsible as an advisory and executing service provider for the installation. Hans Hermann Hönsch from HFE explains: "I've known Alcons Audio for a long time and recommended the Alcons LR7, because the system is in my opinion particularly well-suited for theatre. Already in mid-2014, we organized a comparative listening session, whereupon the heads of the Musikalischen Komödie unanimously agreed to Alcons."

The new PA system was installed under sporting conditions during the running season. It now consists of six Alcons LR7/90 (1x RBN401 4" pro-ribbon driver plus 6.5" woofer) micro line-array and two Alcons LR7B (12" neodymium woofers) line-array bass as low frequency support per side. The center unit consists of a further four Alcons LR7 / 90. In addition, two Alcons VR8 (one RBN401 4" pro-ribbon driver plus 8" woofer) monitors have been installed on each side of the orchestra pit.

The auditorium can also be expanded to include three Alcons SR9 (one RBN401 4" pro-ribbon driver) as frontfills -- an option that the musical comedy is currently only using during microport performances. In addition, two BF362 double-18" subwoofers are available for particularly bass-intensive applications. The entire system is powered by one Sentinel10 and three Sentinel3 four-channel amplified loudspeaker controllers.

Thus, Tobias Finke, Tonmeister and sound department manager, considers the theater as "technically up-to-date." The acoustic challenges in the hall were not to be neglected, as Finke explains: "The Musikalische Komödie is a very early concrete construction, arc-shaped with facets in the interior. This creates a few strange reflections and other unique hall effects. In addition, self-resonances are an issue. The room is excited by the PA quite severely. "All this had to be considered and controlled as much as possible."

"This is where the Alcons LR7 fully demonstrate their strength," adds Hönsch. "Especially the line arrays sound at low sound pressure levels as good as at high levels, which cannot be claimed by all sound reinforcement systems. With pro-ribbon tweeters you do not have this typical 'horn effect;' the speaker does not 'bellow' at you, but has a very refined and even coverage. But even if it has to be more powerful, Alcons plays very well."

Sound engineer Holger Weise adds: "In musicals, the location of the sound source plays an important role, and by arranging the frontfill and center, we have now solved our imaging problem very well. You do not have to drive at such high levels, which is very pleasant. What surprised me a lot is that we have two separate subs that can be selected, but you do not really need them even during shows with complete live bands."

"In fact, we still did not use the subs," confirms Finke. "We once ran them against the built-in basses and found the latter more pleasant for our purposes. They do not go down quite so deep, but on the other hand, they do not excite the room too much. The bass response of the LR7 series is really amazing!"

There was also only positive feedback from the audience and employees, especially regarding improved sound imaging. "The clarity in the reproduction has been noticed by many people -- from musicians to technicians to our guests," Finke concludes.

Thus, the road of success continues for the Musikalische Komödie Leipzig.

More info is available at www.hfe.de and www.oper-leipzig.de/en/musikalische-komoedie.