The project cost 24m Swiss francs and saw the main Schadausaal hall at the Kultur und Kongresszentrum Thun (KKThun) completely revamped while an additional hall, the Lachensaal, was added along with a large new foyer.
"We have installed a lot of induction loops before, every time using Ampetronic products, and have had nothing but good experiences with them," says Rolf Aegerter, technical project manager at Kilchenmann.
The existing induction loops in the Schadausaal's two small balconies were re-used, driven by a newly-installed Ampetronic ILD500 loop amplifier. Meanwhile, in the new Lachensaal, two phased array loops were installed using wire laid in recesses cut into the underfloor.
"The decision to lay parquet flooring in the Lachensaal made using copper tape impractical, the flooring pieces being too small for it to be viable, so this was the ideal solution," says Aegerter.
Each of the phased arrays uses two ILD1000 and an SP5 phase shifter. Each array corresponds with the two 'halves' of the room, which can be divided by a wall. When the Lachensaal is being used as one large space, the inputs are 'summed' to send the signal to both loops.
Inputs to all loop systems come from a Yamaha DME64N digital mixing engine, which controls the audio infrastructure for both halls via AMX touch panels. Programmed presets allow all permutations of inputs and outputs - depending on the event - to be easily selected, including the relevant feeds to the Ampetronic loop drivers.
(Jim Evans)
