Ibaraki Prefecture, known as the Science Future City, (located near Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, Tsukuba Capio in Tsukuba City), is a place for citizens to interact through cultural and sports activities.
Among these facilities, Capio Hall is the city’s event hall suitable for dance and theater. Opened in July 1996, it has created a full-fledged theater space with a unique arrangement of 384 seats that creates a sense of unity between the performers and the audience, and high-quality stage equipment.
In 2022, Capio Hall underwent a major renovation of the speaker system, and was introduced to Martin Audio’s latest model TORUS.
Mr. Endo of Sigma Communications Co., Ltd., which is in charge of technical management of the hall, talked about the renovation issues as follows.
“Originally, the center proscenium was of the exposed type, and clusters were assembled using multiple point source speakers on a lifting grid. When updating the equipment, we naturally considered line arrays, but there were issues. The Capio Hall is not very deep, but the horseshoe-shaped balcony seats extend up to the third floor, and the vertical coverage angle is very large.
” It was clear that if we were to introduce a line array with such a large number, we would have to use a large number of lines just to ensure the vertical directivity angle. Therefore, the constant coverture array was considered.
Martin Audio’s new model TORUS is a perfect match for theaters with high ceilings, even though the target distance is short throw. For venues with a depth of 15m to 30m, full-fledged line arrays may not meet your needs in terms of practicality and price. However, point sources may not provide sufficient coverage or SPL. TORUS is a constant curvature array designed to fill that gap perfectly by combining optimized coverage, SPL realization and cost efficiency.
The lifting grid of the proscenium was retrofitted with a new 4-bar vertical array consisting of 2 x T1215 and 2 x T1230. With these four, we were able to secure a vertical directivity angle of 90 degrees, which was enough to cover from the top 3rd floor to the front row of the 1st floor. In addition, the XD12 is installed in the side column along with the subwoofer SX118, which are independently driven by the iK42 DSP power amplifier. A total of six Blackline X8s were also installed for infill and balcony seating assistance, powered by Powersoft’s Quattrocanali series.
Mr. Ota of Audio Brains, who did the sound adjustment, talks about it. “Initially, the concept was to aim narrowly at a distance and widen at a close distance, but when we made adjustments while actually producing sound, we found that a 90-degree horizontal directivity angle would provide a better coverage area. As a result, 80% of the venue can be covered by the proscenium. The auxiliary X8 adjusts the delay and volume to match the proscenium, and only follows a small area. With TORUS’s wave, the angle of the guide can be changed even with the grill attached, so it’s good that we can flexibly respond to cut-and-try on site.”
Mr. Endo concludes: “The Capio Hall needs to be able to accommodate a variety of events for the public. Recently, dance recitals by students have become popular, and more and more sound pressure is required from the speakers installed in the facility. , the TORUS and subwoofers have plenty of headroom to handle this, and we are very happy with the new setup.”
