L-ACOUSTICS’ Finnish distributor, Starlike Oy, has installed a KIVA/KILO system into the Vantaa Martinus Concert Hall, a 1,000-seat purpose built concert hall constructed in 1986.

The hall is home to the Vantaa Pops Orchestra, a 40-70 piece symphonic orchestra specialising in light entertainment rather than classical music, and including ‘pop’ elements such as guitar, keyboards and drums. According to sound designer Sepi Myllyrine, responsible for the orchestra’s sound, it was widely perceived that the existing system at Vantaa needed updating as audio quality is of paramount importance to the orchestra. Together with Martinus’ sound designer Esa Lindroos and the rest of the audio team, Myllyrinne evaluated many systems before concluding that the KIVA system was the clear winner in terms of audio quality, coherence, headroom, coverage and flexibility.

“Even after using the system for a while now I’m still impressed with the sound quality of the system every time,” he says.

The KIVA/KILO system installed by Starlike consists of three clusters. The left and right comprise of six KIVA ultra compact line source cabinets and two KILO low frequency extensions, with a centre cluster of seven KIVAs. The operating range is extended down to 32Hz via two SB118 subs. The system is powered by four LA4 amplified controllers.

Starlike and the client are both pleased with the results. “The sound is now coherent and the coverage is even in all parts of the auditorium,” says Starlike’s Pauli Molnár. “In particular, when we replaced the four previous subs with just two SB118s the sound became much bigger, deeper, tighter and punchier. I went to the first concert after the new system was installed, and the orchestra and the vocalists sounded fantastic. The system was very transparent – almost as if there was no PA at all! Setting up was fast and easy, and as always L-ACOUSTICS’ Soundvision was a great tool in simulating the system in a 3D model.”

More information on : www.starlike.fi