JAZZ, REGGAE AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN – ARROCC AT SALLE SAINT-PIERRE

Requirement

Located in the town of Florennes, Belgium, the 184-seat Salle Saint-Pierre plays a pivotal role in the cultural life of the region, serving communities within a 30-40km radius.

As a rural community center, the Salle Saint-Pierre hosts the broadest possible range of events, with two or three shows per week ranging from talks and film screenings to reggae and rock bands. Jazz and classical music performances are a particularly popular element of the program.

Having previously hired in professional audio systems for each event, the Foyer culturel de Florennes (the venue’s managing body) decided to invest in an installed loudspeaker system capable of handling its busy program.
A number of key requirements were identified:

  • Exceptional intelligibility for spoken word events
  • Pristine, neutral audio for jazz performances
  • Absolutely no noise onstage for jazz and classical artists
  • High SPL and powerful LF for rock / reggae concerts
  • Clear lines of sight for film screenings

Venue manager Christian Scaut and regular freelance audio engineer Prosper Derbaudreng auditioned multiple loudspeaker brands in the auditorium, determined to achieve the optimal solution within the available budget before making their decision.

Salle Saint-Pierre ARRoCC constant curvature loudspeaker installation
Salle Saint-Pierre ARRoCC constant curvature loudspeaker installation

Solution

Working with Sequoia Audio Belux, the team at Foyer culturel de Florennes selected an AUDIOFOCUS ARRoCC constant curvature system as its new loudspeaker solution.

EASE software was used to determine the ideal loudspeaker configuration and placement. A pair of horizontally mounted CC210Wx (Wide) cabinets on each side provides the required 90° x 50° coverage without requiring additional fill or delay cabinets and without obstructing lines of sight to the stage or screen.

A single, central 118S subwoofer has been mounted on the trussing above the stage. This unconventional arrangement keeps sightlines clear and avoids onstage noise. The venue had intended to hire in an additional subwoofer for rock and reggae shows, however this has proved unnecessary due to the power of the 118S and the fact that the CC210Wx extends down to 80Hz.

All loudspeakers are driven by a single A 3004 SCiO amplifier. The 4x3000W amp occupies a single rack unit, housed in a separate room. An Ethernet connection from the FoH position allows remote control of the amplifier using SCiO browser-based software.

Salle Saint-Pierre’s auditorium was acoustically treated ahead of the loudspeaker installation, so very little equalization was required, with the same loudspeaker preset used for all CC210Wx cabinets.

The new system has drawn praise from many visiting engineers and artists.

Photos: Sequoia Audio Belux

“This project shows that with careful planning you can achieve fantastic results with a relatively minimal loudspeaker system. The sound at Salle Saint-Pierre is highly transparent – exactly what was requested for Jazz performances. But when the program switches to rock and reggae, the ARRoCC system delivers real power and punch for its size.”
Fabien Pynaert – Sequoia Audio Belux