Germany - Since last year, the municipality of Ertingen in the district of Biberach has been enjoying the benefits of a new cultural and sports hall, which, thanks its unusual architecture, is suitable for a very wide variety of events. Both the geometry of the rooms and their facilities are designed for multiple uses - club and corporate gatherings, conferences, celebrations, balls, theatrical productions, and concerts.
Musik Markt Bad Saulgau, under the direction of its proprietor Alfons Müller, was the company charged with the planning and installation of the audio system. After conducting numerous comparative tests, the company opted for an EVA line-array system from Electro-Voice.
"There were stringent financial constraints as well as aesthetic ones," says Müller. "The system needed to blend harmoniously into the elegant interior design of the hall, as well as offer as much flexibility and versatility as possible. We managed to satisfy all these requirements with the EVA system."
The installation features a number of EVA array elements, with coverage patterns of six and 20 degrees (vertical) as well as 90 and 120 degrees (horizontal) respectively. The EVA line array is configured for both nearfield and farfield coverage and is complemented by centre speakers and subwoofers from the same series.
For stage monitoring, the TX1152FM from Electro-Voice's Tour X series was selected. All the power amplifiers -- CPS 2.4 and 2.12 - are also from Electro-Voice. Thanks to the integration of a mobile rack, the system can be driven from any of five different points in the hall.
"I am very taken with the EVA system," says Alfons Müller. "The sonic image exhibits great clarity with plenty of presence - even when sound pressure levels are high. But even without resorting to high levels, we can achieve homogeneous coverage in all parts of the hall. Intelligibility is excellent and the system never sounds aggressive - again, even at high volume levels. This last characteristic drew favourable mention from all those involved in the opening event. And successful visual integration of the system into the hall put the cherry on the cake."
The customers and users of the cultural and sports hall in Ertingen are also highly satisfied with the installation, says Müller - "The system has already been operated by a wide variety of users: hall managers, club members, and also people from outside the municipality. So far, all the feedback we've had has been positive, whether the events in question were musicals, carnival celebrations, lectures, or large assemblies. In fact, all the events so far have gone off without the slightest hitch."
