L-Acoustics System for Eventim Apollo - SSE Audio
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L-Acoustics System for Eventim Apollo
Hammersmith’s Eventim Apollo now has a state of the art house PA system,
supplied and installed by SSE Systems Integration
Audio Installation
Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith
The Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith is one of
the UK’s most iconic live music venues - a
Grade II listed building that has hosted just
about every rock n roll legend over the past
five decades. Formerly called Hammersmith
Odeon, the venue was acquired by AEG Live
and CTS Eventim in 2012 and subsequently was
extensively refurbished. Following this, the
venue operators were concerned by the
inconsistent and sometimes disappointing
audio quality produced by artists appearing at
the venue and so took the bold decision to K2 cabinets ready for installation
invest in a state of the art line array house PA
system.
SSE Audio was one of six companies invited to
tender, with audio consultants Vanguardia
carrying out acoustic surveys of the venue with
the proposed design prior to the contract
being awarded.
The venue researched which systems had been
used at the Apollo over the preceding three
years and discovered that L-Acoustics was by
far the most popular choice of bands. Eventim
initially approached SSE Audio with a design
brief for a house PA system able to cater for the
broad spectrum of visiting artists, including an
increasing number of spoken word
performances, particularly comedy acts. At
this time SSE Audio was beta testing the new ARCS WIFO custom bracket
K2 cabinet for L-Acoustics and the K2 system design process SSE identified that new rigging
had been deployed at the Apollo twice over points closer to the outside walls would be
this period. On hearing the system in situ it required to provide optimum coverage of the
became apparent that K2 would be a good stalls and improve sightlines. The original
candidate for the new house system. points remain, should any production opt to
use their own touring system. The motor
L-Acoustics System control system for the arrays has custom built
The main PA consists of a flown array of twelve controls, manufactured by SSE Audio and
L-Acoustics K2 cabinets per side. As part of the mounted close to the arrays for ease of use
whenever the system needs to be dropped.
Eventim Apollo v5_0 FEB 2021
Six SB28s ground-stacked each side of the stage supply
the sub-bass. An additional four ARCS WIFO cabinets and
five 8XT cabinets provide the nearfield infill close to the
stage. SSE Audio manufactured a special mounting panel
for the WIFO cabinets. These mean they can stack neatly
on top of the subs, utilising custom mounting brackets
that mate with the cabinets' standard rigging hardware. If
the cabinets are removed for a production they can be
reinstalled in exactly the correct position every time. The
positive mounting also avoids the use of load straps,
maintaining the aesthetics of the cabinets.
The layout of the Apollo presented several acoustic
challenges, which were addressed by SSE Audio's design
for the house system. SSE Audio's Yan Stile explained,
“There’s a large area of the stalls under the balcony, which
flown systems have struggled to provide coverage for in
the past. In addition, the traditional mix position is at the
rear of this area which means the FOH engineer has found
it difficult to hear how the system is performing." The
design addressed this issue by fitting six L-Acoustics
Master amp rack for main PA
ARCS WIFO cabinets to the underside of the balcony,
mounted on custom brackets designed and manufactured
by SSE. The brackets were designed to allow rapid and
precise installation and enable the cabinets to be placed
as close to the ceiling as possible to minimise sightline
obstruction.
The ARCS WIFO cabinets were selected for this
application because they use a DOSC waveguide and the
same HF driver as the K2 so the voicing of the cabinet is
identical. This gives the house engineer an accurate
representation of how the main PA hangs are performing.
The cabinet directly in front of the engineer is on its own
signal circuit so can be easily muted momentarily via LA
Network Manager if the engineer wants to compare the
audio reference with the main hangs.
For balcony coverage, SSE Audio specified L-C-R hangs
each comprising three KARAi cabinets. These are located
on new flying points specified by SSE to provide optimal
acoustic performance with coverage to the back of the
balcony. In addition SSE Audio has supplied twelve 8XT
ARCS WIFO and bracket under the balcony cabinets to provide audio in the foyer and bar area. These
are fed via a BSS Soundweb so they can be configured to
relay the main PA with an announcement mic override or
configured with separate audio feeds from DJ/playback
equipment for after show parties etc.
Dante Network
As part of the Installation package there is always an SSE
Audio system tech in attendance whenever the house PA
is in use. Overall system control is via a discreet drive rack
positioned at front of house. From here the system tech
can control the system without distracting the FOH
engineer. The rack takes the digital I/O from whatever
console is being used by the show and interfaces with the
house system. Three Lake LM44s provide signal
processing and LA Network Manager software enables
EQ, delay times, individual amplifier levels and system
health to be accessed by the system tech. A wireless
tablet has also been provided so that these tasks can be
FOH control rack carried out remotely around the venue.
The system runs entirely in the digital domain over a Dante
network. SSE Audio designed the network around a dual
redundant fibre backbone using Cisco switches that are
located at front of house, in the basement and in the stage
roof. Focusrite RedNet DS16 AES converters located in the
amp racks provide the individual AES inputs for each
amplifier from the Dante network.
In addition to the dual redundant network, the entire
system has an analogue failover, which automatically
kicks in should the Lake Processors detect a total network
failure.
As the system is a fixed installation, the amp racks have
been located out of the way, but as close to the speakers
as possible. The main PA amplifiers are housed in a roof
room adjacent to the motors, while the under balcony
speakers are driven by amplifiers housed in the Drive Rack
at Front of House.
All speaker cabling from the arrays is terminated to a
Stage input panel
breakout Speakon interface panel on the wall. This
enables the cabling to be easily disconnected when the
system needs to be lowered for maintenance or removed.
Cable Infrastructure
A very important feature of the complete installation is the
ability for touring acts to interface easily with the house
system, irrespective of the mixing consoles they bring in
at front of house and monitors. In addition to a
conventional analogue multicore system comprising two
32 pair cables with FOH and stage breakouts, there is also
a digital infrastructure between stage and FOH with a
choice of systems to suit all current digital cabling
standards.
Each cabling type comprises two systems (enabling main
and support consoles to have independent cabling - both
utilising the same system) and a redundant backup. The
Speakon Interface for main PA
options provided comprise two fibre systems with
breakout cables in both Neutrik and Fibreco formats, eight
BNC coaxial connectors, plus 10 channels of Ethercon
(RJ45s) Cat 6 networking.
12 additional 'digital ready' independent tie lines
terminating in XLRs are provided plus connectors for
MADI recording. As part of the installation, a similar time-
saving set of cabling for the lighting/visuals departments
were installed by SSE Audio, with a termination panel at
the FOH lighting position that includes cable
infrastructure for DMX and video formats.
Contract Rental
SSE Audio proposed a Contract Rental approach to the
financing of the system, bringing benefits to both the
Apollo and SSE. Eventim only had to finance the initial
installation and permanent infrastructure costs, with the
equipment leased on a contract rental basis.
As part of the contract, SSE Audio provides a full service
facility, which ensures the system operates at its optimum
and should any equipment fail, it can be replaced at short
notice from SSE Audio’s extensive rental stock. K2 array
Eventim Apollo v5_0 FEB 2021
Operational Experience
The main installation took place over a period “It is absolutely spot on! The
of four weeks and since then it has been used L-Acoustics system sounded great. The SSE
for most events held at the Apollo, to great Installations team have designed a solution
acclaim both from audiences and visiting that has superb coverage throughout. The SSE
productions. System Tech Pete Hughes understood the
system really well and his advice and help was
Alastair Parley, Technical Manager at The invaluable.”
Eventim Apollo explained some of the
- Pete Russell, FOH Engineer, Thunder
advantages of the house system. "Obviously
there was the desire to achieve a high quality,
uniform sound for the Apollo, but there are also
several other benefits. We now have improved sounded great and covered the room evenly. I
sightlines and a much less cluttered stage; a was particularly impressed by the coverage the
fixed installation brings improved reliability KARAi provided in the balcony."
and lower maintenance costs. Not having the
continual rigging and dropping of heavy Alastair Parley is delighted with how the
speaker systems brings improved safety, installation was carried out and with the
reduces the chance of injury and production finished result. “The audio installation was only
costs are lower as less crew are required." one part of the programme of works underway
at the Eventim Apollo at the time and
An early tour to utilise the new system was rock unfortunately these caused delays that
band Thunder. Pete Russell, Thunder’s FOH impacted on the audio installation. However
engineer commented on the new system, “It is thanks to the hard work, knowledge and
absolutely spot on! The L-Acoustics system ingenuity of all the team involved, the
sounded great. SSE Audio's installation team installation was completed in time. The
have designed a solution that has superb standard of finish and attention to detail is
coverage throughout. The SSE Audio system excellent, with every rack and panel finished to
tech Pete Hughes understands the system the highest of standards. They look really good
really well and his advice and help was whilst being clearly labelled and easy to use.
invaluable.” American band The Mavericks was When the system was first run up, it was clear
also an early user of the system at The Apollo. straight away that the quality and coverage of
FOH engineer Russell Fischer said, "Our show the system far surpassed anything that had
went really well and I thought the system previously been heard in the Apollo.”
To learn more, visit sseaudio.com
SSE AUDIO SALES & SYSTEMS INTEGRATION HEAD OFFICE
SSE Audio is a Solotech Company, leaders in live production, Burnt Meadow House
audio visual and venue integrations. North Moons Moat
Our brands include SSE Audio, Wigwam and Sigma Products. Redditch, B98 9PA
All other brands and trademarks are the property of their United Kingdom
respective owners. Tel: +44 (0)1527 528822
Eventim Apollo v5_0 FEB 2021
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