AVNation TV

Tag: Soundvision

  • L-Acoustics K2 Brings Consistent Clarity to Monte de Dios, the Caribbean’s Largest Church

    L-Acoustics K2 Brings Consistent Clarity to Monte de Dios, the Caribbean’s Largest Church

    When Ministerio Internacional Monte de Dios opened the doors of its new home in Santo Domingo on July 17, 2026, it did so as the largest Christian church in the Caribbean. More than a decade in the making, the new worship space rises from a 45,000-square-meter campus in Santo Domingo Norte, its semicircular auditorium built to seat nearly 8,000 worshipers around a central stage. Led by Pastors Dr. Miguel and Montserrat Bogaert, the ministry had steadily outgrown one home after another, and its leaders were determined that the new building be matched by sound worthy of its scale: every seat, from the front row to the far end of the arc, had to receive the same clear speech and the same full-range music.

    That was a demanding brief for a room of this size and shape. Church management set a benchmark of no more than 3 dB of level variation between any two seats in the house, an exacting target for even coverage across a nearly 180-degree audience. Speech intelligibility was the first priority, but the music had to carry equal weight. “Monte de Dios has a very dynamic service. The band stays on stage the whole time, and there is a lot of energy, not necessarily loud, but very dynamic,” says Jonathan Del Villar, CTO and Managing Partner at Wholestage, an L-Acoustics Certified Provider Distributor (CPd) for the Dominican Republic. “The low end is an especially important element. They wanted their members and visitors to feel the band and the drums.”

    To reach that standard, the choice of L-Acoustics came naturally; Miguel Bogaert Jr., son of the founding pastor and closely involved in the church’s technology decisions, is a longtime follower of the brand. “The church intentionally wanted to create a worship space that provided a high-fidelity experience,” says Del Villar. Wholestage designed the system and brought in locally-based integrator SoundVideoLight (SVL), which has 15 years of audio-visual experience in the region, to handle the installation alongside the church’s lighting, rigging, and show-control infrastructure.

    Church leadership “really did its homework,” Del Villar notes, studying how comparable congregations across the region had solved the same problem, among them Pastor Carlos Enrique “Cash” Luna’s 12,000-seat Casa de Dios in Guatemala City. “Sound is one of the most important elements of the worship experience, and the pastors were aware of that from the start,” he says. “Their standards were high because they are in tune with what other successful churches around the region are doing.”

    Designing a Church Sound System around K2 with Soundvision
    With the brief set, Wholestage designed the church sound system around L-Acoustics K2, modeling coverage in L-Acoustics Soundvision to confirm even level and intelligibility across the full arc before a single enclosure was flown. L-Acoustics supported the design at every stage.

    “We had strong support from L-Acoustics throughout the entire project. Josh Maichele, Global Application Lead for House of Worship, was heavily involved, especially during the design stage,” Del Villar says. It was Maichele who proposed a flown end-fire and cardioid configuration for the KS28 subwoofers. “It is an almost 180-degree seating area, so this was a very effective way to ensure there were no low-end cancellations anywhere in the auditorium,” he explains.

    Final calibration was carried out with L-Acoustics M1 and P1 against the Soundvision predictions, with L-Acoustics Application Engineer Alex Soto on-site alongside the Wholestage and SVL teams, the latter being led by SVL Operations and Project Manager Pedro Abreu.

    The main system comprises 48 K2 flown as four arrays of 12, paired with a central cluster of 16 KS28 subwoofers in two hangs of eight, set in the combined end-fire and cardioid arrangement. Eight X8 provide front-fill and hangs of one A15i Focus over two A15i Wide per side deliver side-fill, while two X12, one per side, serve as delays. Onstage, four X15 HiQ act as monitors. The K2 mains are granularly driven by 192 channels of LA7.16i amplified controller power, for paramount consistency over the audience, and the KS28 subwoofers are powered by a dozen LA12X amplified controllers. Del Villar also specified three DiGiCo Quantum338 consoles for front-of-house, monitor, and broadcast mixes.

    K2 Holds Every Seat to Within 3 dB
    The result is a room where the 3 dB target holds from the first row to the last, and where the low end is felt as clearly as it is heard. “They wanted their members and visitors to feel the band, the drums, and with this system, they really do,” Del Villar says. On its opening weekend, an auditorium of worshipers, joined by Dominican President Luis Abinader, heard both the music and the message land with the same clarity in every seat. “L-Acoustics has become the standard for houses of worship because it lets you hear the truth,” Del Villar adds.

  • L-Acoustics Soka, Syva, and X Series Bring Concert-Grade Audio to a 177-Foot Superyacht

    L-Acoustics Soka, Syva, and X Series Bring Concert-Grade Audio to a 177-Foot Superyacht

    A 177-foot, 776-gross-ton superyacht designed by Delta Design Group, accommodating up to 16 guests and 14 crew, is not an obvious project for an integrator based in landlocked Montana. But when the owner of that vessel wanted his guests to stay present on the voyage and engaged with the trip and each other, he turned to the team that had already delivered the sound and service that moved him, Montana Pro Audio (MPA). The brief was straightforward in concept and demanding in execution: concert-grade audio across every deck, in a marine environment.

    MPA first gained the owner’s attention at a private event in Montana—about as far from the open ocean as you can get. While an initial commission for a 114-foot vessel established a foundation of trust, the owner’s subsequent acquisition of a 177-foot superyacht demanded a significant evolution in hardware. With a track record of success, MPA Director of Business Development Aaron Fisher was assigned the challenge to deliver that signature concert-grade sound in a premiere maritime environment. To accomplish this goal, Fisher specified L-Acoustics, providing the weather-resistant durability, sonic precision, and aesthetic refinement necessary for a vessel of this scale.

    Any Deck, Any DJ
    MPA has completed Phase One of the installation, focusing on the exterior social and entertainment spaces. The Sun Deck received two Soka inWall, six X4r, and two SB10r subs. The Owner’s Deck was fitted with two X6i, two X4r, and one SB10i sub. On the Main Deck, two Soka inWall, two X4r, and one ceiling-mounted SB10r handle coverage.

    In the boat garage at the lower stern, MPA utilized a clever deployment for the beach club experience. A pair of X8i and a surface-mounted SB10i were installed on the underside of the overhead garage door; when the door is raised, the system is perfectly positioned to support water activities off the back of the vessel. “In terms of AV, the goal was to outfit the vessel with discreet, professional-level products that provide a nightclub-level audio experience throughout the boat,” says Fisher.

    Supporting all zones is a deployable DJ system consisting of a pair of Syva mains, two Syva Low, a KS21 sub, and an X8 as a DJ monitor, routable to any deck. Patch panels throughout provide left-right sub DJ-fill outputs, a multi-pin input for the DJ equipment, and a port for an Allen & Heath digital stage box. “The DJ can easily patch their system to any patch panel located on the decks, or in the boat garage,” Fisher explains. “The music can then be routed to all audio locations throughout the vessel.”

    Phase Two, planned for 2027, will extend the system to the yacht’s interior spaces, including the Main Salon, Dining Room, Media Room, Owner’s Suite, Gym, and Wheelhouse, as well as a deployable system on the bow of the vessel.

    Engineered for Exposure
    Maritime installations demand a level of durability that many professional audio solutions cannot provide. Fisher notes that L-Acoustics enclosures carry weather-resistant IP ratings that provide immediate practical benefits for outdoor deployments. “L-Acoustics components are engineered for environmental resilience, ensuring they are ready for the deck out of the box,” Fisher explains. “We were able to meet the project’s timeline because these enclosures are built to handle humidity, salt air, and spray as standard manufacturing design.”

    Working within the constrained spaces of a luxury interior, Fisher also found value in configuring the systems for extended frequency bandwidth rather than just maximum SPL. “L-Acoustics offering presets that give us more frequency bandwidth that can be traded off in terms of SPL is an excellent feature,” he says. “It’s a good acknowledgment that the max-capable SPL of the product isn’t necessary in intimate spaces like these. In areas where we don’t need max SPL, we can lose a few decibels without losing any of the impact and focus on frequency enhancement for the unique attributes of the space.”

    Collaboration and Support
    The installation required close coordination with two key partners: the L-Acoustics team and the yacht’s own engineers, two crew members with detailed knowledge of the vessel’s interior structure. “They know every inch of the vessel’s construction. They were able to guide us and provide quality solutions for cable runs, penetrations, and inform us of any structural limits,” says Fisher.

    “Our L-Acoustics team has been genuinely helpful. They provided us with highly detailed Soundvision models showing the systems’ performance in each space, giving us multiple options for different performance values. They’ve gone above and beyond in helping us, from the initial designs to the final calibration. Between the IP55 ratings already being part of the products and the support that L-Acoustics provided, we knew from the very start that this was going to be a successful voyage.”

  • L-Acoustics Introduces Digital Construction for Accurate As-Built Venue Capture

    L-Acoustics Introduces Digital Construction for Accurate As-Built Venue Capture

    L-Acoustics has introduced Digital Construction, a new service that uses professional-grade handheld LiDAR scanning to create highly accurate as-built digital models of venues. The service captures the actual geometry of a space, including stages, balconies, and surrounding areas, helping overcome challenges caused by outdated or incomplete architectural drawings. The resulting data is processed into a Soundvision-ready model, enabling more precise acoustic simulations and system designs.

    Designed for AV integrators, consultants, Certified Providers, and venue owners, Digital Construction helps reduce installation risks, avoid costly design changes, and improve system performance. By providing verified venue geometry, the service supports smoother project execution, better communication between stakeholders, and a reliable foundation for future upgrades and renovations.

    Every sound system design starts with a model of the space, and that model is only as accurate as the information behind it. In many venues, the architectural drawings used to build the model are incomplete, out of date, or never matched the finished building. Renovations, retrofits, and years of small modifications widen the gap between what appears on paper and what exists on site. When a design rests on inaccurate geometry, the cost shows up late: coverage that behaves differently than predicted, rigging that does not fit the structure, and changes that have to be resolved during installation.

    L-Acoustics now addresses this with Digital Construction, a new service that captures a venue exactly as it is built and delivers a verified geometric model ready for use in Soundvision.

    Digital Construction includes an on-site scan carried out by an expert L-Acoustics Application Engineer that includes stage areas, balconies, and the spaces that connect them, using handheld LiDAR. The method records the room in high resolution far faster than manual measurement and captures detail that less advanced methods like hand drafting or P2P laser can miss. It is built for the scale of professional venues, where the short-range scanners found in consumer devices, limited to roughly five meters, cannot cover the space. The result is a true-to-life record of the room as it actually stands.

    From Point Cloud to Soundvision-Ready Geometry
    Each scan is verified and processed through a standardized workflow with quality checks at every stage, so results stay consistent from a small club to a stadium bowl. Clients receive two deliverables: a detailed point-cloud file of the venue for their own reference, and a simplified, Soundvision-ready model for acoustic simulation and system design. Post-processing scales with the size and architectural complexity of the venue, and the L-Acoustics team works with each client to set a realistic timeline before work begins.

    A Reliable Foundation for the Installation Market
    Digital Construction strengthens the first step of every design by making sure the model reflects the real room before any loudspeaker is specified. It works alongside the Soundvision tools and Architectural Drafting services that L-Acoustics teams and partners already use, giving Certified Providers, AV consultants, and venue owners an accurate as-built reference. The benefit is clearest in renovations, older buildings, and venues without reliable documentation, where verified geometry reduces the risk of late surprises, such as unexpected ceiling structures, rigging constraints, or sightline conflicts.

    As the only loudspeaker manufacturer to offer as-built LiDAR capture at full venue scale within its design workflow, L-Acoustics ensures that the precision of Soundvision begins with accurate venue geometry.

    An accurate model of a venue also outlives a single project. The same as-built data supports future upgrades, clearer communication between stakeholders, and the growth of the L-Acoustics venue database that designers draw on worldwide.

    “In addition to pure design problems, the issues caused by inaccurate drawings also mean that the Autofilter algorithm takes into account those inaccuracies, which can result in suboptimal front-to-back tonal and level balance. Digital Construction brings total accuracy to the foundational geometry for which a system design is produced, ensuring each client receives the absolute best result possible, leveraging our seamless workflow through design phases, to deployment, calibration, and every show beyond,” says Asher Dowson, Director of Product Management, Services at L-Acoustics.

    Digital Construction is on show at InfoComm 2026, June 17 to 19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the L-Acoustics team will be on hand at booth N6336 to discuss the service and answer questions. Digital Construction is available to clients from the first day of the show.

  • San Antonio Alamodome Ups Its Game With Additional L-Acoustics Systems

    San Antonio Alamodome Ups Its Game With Additional L-Acoustics Systems

    When is a stadium an arena, and an arena a stadium? When it’s the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas’ municipally owned super-flexible venue that can hold as many as 72,000 fans and host anything from a football match to basketball games, such as the ones it once accommodated for the NBA San Antonio Spurs for a decade. These days, the Alamodome notably serves as the regional host venue for the UIL State Basketball Finals, as well as for graduations and other ceremonies and events for UTSA and other schools.

    Getting basketball and football into the same venue is no easy task (it also has two permanent Olympic-size ice rinks that can be used for NHL games, figure skating, and speed skating), with seating significantly reconfigured for each type of use, and thus also needing highly flexible audio coverage. Previously, that task fell to an L-Acoustics K2 main PA system installed in 2017, but it wasn’t designed to effectively address an entire basketball court area. Recently, however, a new combined L-Acoustics K2 and A15i system was added that is designed as just that: to be the dedicated center-cluster system for the venue when one half of the domed bowl is configured for the basketball games that now dominate its sports agenda.

    “The two systems are designed to be completely independent of each other, and completely reconfigurable,” says Ryan Knox, Senior Consultant at Salas O’Brien, the project’s consultant, which provided the design from which the city conducted the bid process for equipment vendors and integration services. “The challenge here was understanding how they needed to use the space, and the different kinds of events they were doing.”

    But he says the system choice might have been the easiest part of it. “There was already an L-Acoustics K2 system in there, so when you reconfigure the systems, they’re able to use the same software, the same network, the same amplifiers. Plus, there’s the sonic consistency you have between the two systems for the entire venue. Yes, an easy choice.”

    The new system comprises 56 L-Acoustics K2 and 28 A15i Wide, collectively powered by 31 LA12X and 12 LA4X amplified controllers. “This system serves as a multifunction one, and it really expands the venue’s capabilities,” says Jordan Pierce, Integrated Systems Sales Engineer for LD Systems, which did the installation and integration. “They can do tennis here now, volleyball championships—anything that’s essentially roughly the size of a basketball court. It allows them to sell the venue more for smaller events to clients who would have thought it too big and unaffordable. They can bring down, reconfigure, and alternately utilize this new sound system for whatever event they want in there.”

    That capability includes being able to move some of the K2 to the corners of the stadium when the entire floor area is needed, assuring full coverage to anywhere in the venue. That was indeed the case when the venue seating and system were reconfigured for an NCAA event.

    “They actually brought in extra stands and extended the angle of the stands to get all the way to a center basketball court in the center of the stadium, and they needed floor coverage for that extended seating,” he says. “They used the main house K2, and then they added these new arena K2 to be hung underneath it to specifically cover the larger main floor. There also needed to be speakers to help capture sound that’s blocked by LED walls. So now there is appropriate sound way up in the corners and the upper levels and below the sign under the LED walls. Ryan’s team’s use of L-Acoustics’ Soundvision software was critical in helping figure out the best placement for those.”

    Ben Sturgis, Alamodome’s Senior Audio Tech, proudly reports the new K2 system has been performing flawlessly. “In terms of the sound quality, the new system is everything I would have expected from my experience with L-Acoustics,” he says. “But now, it’s especially nice to have one that’s this flexible in terms of positioning, because when we did the Final Four in 2017, we had to rent everything; now we own the PA.”

    And that, Sturgis adds, has significant implications for the venue’s future, including economically. “Before, for a lot of events, if they needed an unconventional PA setup, the only option was for them to go to an outside vendor,” he explains. “And now we can provide that for them. Our big example is college and high school graduations; we do about 10 colleges and 40 high schools every year, and for the last 10 years we’ve had to rent a PA for a month every summer to do it. We’re not going to have to do that anymore. We own it so we can just deploy it.”

    So when is a stadium an arena and an arena a stadium? Whenever they want this venue to be whatever it needs to be, whenever they need it, thanks to an incredibly flexible and great-sounding L-Acoustics sound system. “It really does sound fantastic,” says Pierce. “While the venue can seem complicated, the sound is simply great.”

  • Texas Trust CU Theatre Continues to Trust in L-Acoustics with New K2 System

    Texas Trust CU Theatre Continues to Trust in L-Acoustics with New K2 System

    Since first opening in 2002, Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie has seen a variety of name changes: Texas ShowPlace, NextStage Performance Theater, Nokia Live, Verizon Theatre, and its current moniker, after Texas Trust Credit Union acquired the venue’s naming rights in 2021. However, one thing that has remained constant is the 6,350-capacity live performance hall’s commitment to delivering amazing-sounding concerts and shows, thanks in large part to an L-Acoustics V-DOSC loudspeaker system installed there by Onstage Systems more than a decade ago. Now, to best maintain that same commitment for the next ten-plus years, the city-owned and AEG-operated indoor theatre has upgraded its audio facilities with a modern L-Acoustics K2 concert sound system.

    “When looking for a new PA, L-Acoustics was the first contender on a very short list, and it was a very brief deliberation before deciding to stick with the ‘sure thing’ and a proven track record that is accepted on every rider,” says Tyler Johnston, Dallas Operations Manager for LD Systems, a Clair Global brand, which acquired Onstage’s equipment inventories earlier this year. “The venue’s V-DOSC system continued to deliver solid performance after more than a decade of service. However, as touring acts increasingly arrived with K2 systems, upgrading to match current industry standards became the logical next step—allowing the venue to offer seamless integration while maintaining the L-Acoustics reliability they’d come to trust.”

    Working with L-Acoustics Soundvision and the manufacturer’s Application team, Johnston designed the new system, which now features main arrays of 12 K2 per side, each backed by a hang of six KS28 subwoofers in a cardioid configuration. These are augmented by four KS21 subs on each side of the stage, located below the mains, while coaxial X8i are spread out across the stage lip as front-fills.

    L-Acoustics A15 enclosures are deployed for a center vocal array, as well as wide/out-fill arrays, with eight more A15 clusters flown from a delay ring addressing the upper balcony seating area. The entire PA is powered by LA7.16i amplified controllers, aside from the subs, which are LA12X-driven. The system also features a P1 processor and LS10 Milan-AVB front end that is fully redundant. For stage monitoring, the venue now offers a collection of X15 HiQ wedges and A15/KS21 side-fills, while a pair of DiGiCo Quantum338 FOH and monitor consoles round out the new gear complement.

    The Soundvision design’s final result is a system that offers across-the-board improvements in power, fidelity, dispersion, and physical size. “We went from 15 boxes in the previous system to 12 per side, because of the vertical and horizontal coverage pattern of K2, and still got better coverage,” Johnston notes. “Single-box resolution on the LA7.16i amplified controllers allowed for optimal filtering from the top to the bottom of the arrays, providing very even coverage and tonal response throughout the venue. The delay ring is quite robust and those ‘cheap seats’ actually sound great now with overlapping A15 clusters hitting every inch of the balcony, while still getting some of the power and ‘feel’ from the big K2 and KS28 arrays at the stage.”

    Johnston proudly reports that he’s already heard numerous positive comments about the “consistency of coverage and how there are no longer any bad-sounding seats,” he says. “And, of course, the rider acceptance is great. When your tech pack reads ‘K2 PA, X15 wedges, and Quantum338 desks’, there’s no pushback from any touring artist. The cost and hassle savings of not having to constantly negotiate removing house gear has been a huge boost to their operations, and their new K2 setup was absolutely the right choice for them moving forward.”

    For Amanda West, AEG Presents’ Director of Production, the new system’s enhancements in fidelity and coverage were immediately noticeable. “The sound quality in the balcony and far reaches of the theater is striking—every patron is truly hearing the same concert,” she says. “Another big plus is that touring engineers are all really pleased with what we have to offer and enjoy mixing their shows in our space.”

    Roger Gates, the venue’s Operations Manager for AEG Presents, also appreciates K2’s sonic performance. “Alan Parsons played a concert here, and it sounded absolutely amazing!” he enthuses. “Alan is known for his studio magic and attention to detail when it comes to sound and the listening audience’s experience, and he did not disappoint when he performed on our new system. It was probably as close to his studio sound as you can possibly get, and both our guests and staff were floored by the quality of the audio.”

    “And there are many other similar examples,” he continues. “Dwight Yoakam played a great show, and his acoustic guitar was bright and up front in the mix. More recently, we hosted tribute act Brit Floyd, and the room sounded incredible with everything you’d expect from listening to Pink Floyd’s music. All of the details were clear and bright, with no muddiness or loss of fidelity. One could have easily confused the sound for a high-quality, well-mixed live recording. That’s a huge compliment, not only to the band and their engineer, but also our new K2 system, which delivers excellent sound quality throughout the entire theatre with no dead spots or gaps, even in the highest corners of the space.”

  • Hasley Chapel Calls Upon L-Acoustics Syva Professional Sound System to Complement the Room’s Natural Acoustics and Beauty

    Hasley Chapel Calls Upon L-Acoustics Syva Professional Sound System to Complement the Room’s Natural Acoustics and Beauty

    Hasley Chapel, a new worship space nestled in the northwest corner of St. Andrew Methodist Church’s campus in Plano, Texas, was built with both visual and aural aesthetics in mind. Designed by Dallas-based architectural firm GFF, with audio system specification and installation provided by local integrator Clear ProAV, the picturesque chapel overlooking a pond and wooded area now routinely hosts a mix of traditional worship services, weddings, memorials, small conferences, and other events.

    According to St. Andrew Audio Manager Ryan Mansfield, the choice of loudspeaker brand for the new space was practically settled from the start. “We have Kara arrays installed in our main church sanctuary, and I really love their sound, so it made sense to turn to L-Acoustics again for our new chapel’s system,” he says.

    Small Space with Big Challenges
    Compared to the church’s primary worship hall, which hosts both contemporary and traditional music services, Hasley Chapel is more intimate, seating 120 people on the main floor and featuring a balcony that can accommodate a modest choir or audience overflow. But despite its diminutive size, the space presented some sizable challenges, says Clear ProAV Systems Designer Chad Fuller.

    “The look and feel of the chapel is beautiful, but there are a lot of reflective surfaces,” Fuller observes. The area behind the stage is all glass, while the stone side walls have windows and the building has a high-pitched roof. “It’s a traditional design, but with a modern take, and the aesthetics are huge. So everything we did, especially with the audio portion, had to fit into that. We really had to think about the system design from an ideal performance and coverage perspective, but in a way that would not detract from the beauty of the room.”

    Standing Out By Blending In
    Hasley Chapel’s solution came in the form of two colinear L-Acoustics Syva enclosures as the main left and right components of the PA. The Syva are RAL color-matched to visually melt in with the gray stone interior side walls where they are mounted, helping obscure the overt presence of audio technology in the room.

    Mansfield notes that he appreciates how the loudspeakers don’t stand out. “We also have two discreet Syva in our main building that we use for a side front-fill area, to bring the image down in our sanctuary,” says Mansfield. “And two of them were perfect for Hasley Chapel as well. They’re very visually unobtrusive and offer great coverage for that space.”

    Subs and Coaxials: the Rest of the Team
    Complementing Hasley’s Syva enclosures, six ultra-compact X4i coaxial enclosures are used for front-fills, installed within the second step of the stage at the front of the room. Clear ProAV coordinated with GFF to get the architectural clearance to insert the speakers behind custom screens. For low-end reinforcement, a pair of L-Acoustics Syva Sub and Syva Low enclosures on each side of the stage round out the frequency spectrum. These were chosen for their ability to deliver a solid low-end presence from a low-profile cabinet. Furthermore, two L-Acoustics X8 are surreptitiously mounted to a ceiling beam in the balcony, up with the lighting fixtures, providing coverage for that area when it seats a choir or churchgoers.

    Focusing on a Solid Start with Soundvision
    With so much glass and stone throughout the venue, sound reflections were obviously an initial concern, but the L-Acoustics systems offered Fuller and his team control in terms of speaker placement, dispersion, and tuning. With no sound dampening treatments done to the room, Clear ProAV needed to be very specific about system deployment, and L-Acoustics Soundvision design software offered both the contractor and client a high level of confidence in the final design prior to the construction and system integration taking place.

    “We were able to work with the architect during the chapel’s early planning stages to mitigate some potential issues,” says Fuller. “For example, we were able to request that the glass in the balcony be angled just a touch to avoid bad reflections bouncing back toward the stage. Soundvision was instrumental in helping us determine where we could position our loudspeakers so they’d be visually inconspicuous, but still provide the coverage we needed.”

    Syva Quickly Becomes a New Favorite
    This project marked the first time that Clear ProAV had worked with the L-Acoustics S Series, and the team was more than satisfied with the results. “Every project we do with L-Acoustics products just impresses us more,” Fuller declares. “Of course, we have our favorite models that we regularly install, including the A Series A15 and A10, and I know exactly what I’m going to get when I use those. But with Syva, Syva Low, and Syva Sub we got to work with a product range that we hadn’t used yet, and we were totally blown away by its output. At Hasley Chapel, everything is driven by a single LA7.16i amplified controller, which gave us all the amp channels and headroom we needed. That combined with Syva makes a fantastic system, for sure.”

    “The chapel has pretty decent acoustics, and can be used without reinforcement, but the Syva system adds a nice extra bit of clarity and presence, helping everything feel even more natural,” explains Mansfield. “It can be used quite sparingly to make the room sound nicer, but it’s also great when we push it as well. Everything is easy to use and sounds beautiful. Clear ProAV did a great job for us in there, and L-Acoustics clearly makes a superior speaker.”

  • Borgata Event Center Gets Major Upgrade with L-Acoustics L Series Professional Sound System

    Borgata Event Center Gets Major Upgrade with L-Acoustics L Series Professional Sound System

    “They wanted something rider friendly that could meet the needs of all their events, and they recognized L-Acoustics as a leader in rider requests,” explains Brian Naab, production manager for Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Bauder Audio Systems, speaking about the Event Center at Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. “The Event Center is a multi-purpose space that hosts everything from Seinfeld to Def Leppard. It’s comedians, it’s corporate, it’s luncheons, it can be full-blown rock and roll, and so they needed a versatile loudspeaker system that could handle everything equally well.”

    Borgata’s Event Center offers a 175′ x 175′ multi-use ballroom with a hydraulic-lift stage at one end that can sit from floor level up to five feet high. The venue can be transformed into different configurations depending on the type of event being presented, and the speed and ease with which rigging can be moved and the space transformed is also a major plus.

    According to Naab, the L-Acoustics L Series system is ideal for the Event Center because it meets the venue’s SPL requirements, and its more compact, slimmer profile improves sight lines, which Borgata’s production team appreciates. “The cardioid and supercardioid options vastly improve rejection behind the PA,” explains Naab. “So, for the corporate events, when they’ve got a CEO walking around on a lav, they’ll have far more gain-before-feedback, which is a great thing. On the other end of the spectrum, their rock and roll clients see the L-Acoustics name and immediately know that the system will provide the SPL and integrity that they’re looking for.”

    He notes that he sees installations and tours increasingly making the switch to L2 and L2D because of their “clarity, punch, directionality, size and weight, and incredible rigging speed.” Gone are the concerns over pins and angles, as all vertical adjustments are now done via software, and with Soundvision, dispersion can be precisely tailored to tightly blanket audiences from the front to back row.

    Fast and Flexible Performer

    “It was important to get something we can move pretty quickly,” says Borgata Production Manager Scott Reagan. “The way the system’s so tunable in the software was a big win for us. The thing that pushed it to L-Acoustics, for me, was the ease of use going up and down and how transparent the sound was. Sarah McLachlan’s tour brought an L Series system here, and it was the best I’d heard our room sound.”

    Following the L-Acoustics upgrade, the Center’s typical concert configuration features a 16-foot thrust stage that juts out downstage of the proscenium as an extension to the permanent stage. The PA is flown downstage of that extension, and it consists of a left-right setup of two L-Acoustics L2 over one L2D per side, with six KS28 subwoofers per side flown behind the mains in a cardioid configuration. Eight Kiva II enclosures spread out across the stage lip handle front-fill duties, while an X12 per side covers the gaps on the far edges. The system is fed via an L-Acoustics P1 processor and measurement platform that converts signals from a tour’s consoles into a redundant Milan-AVB drive system.

    For comedy performances, the stage thrust is omitted, and the PA flies just downstage of the proscenium with only one L2 over one L2D per side, while the subs are reduced to four per side. With the stage extension removed, the entire hang moves from 20 feet downstage to about four feet downstage of the proscenium. The subs also move offstage of the mains.

    The system’s flexibility shines with the venue’s multiple configurations. The Event Center features removable bleachers, a two-thirds house soft curtain, and a half-house hard airwall. “We can fly the PA in one configuration but recall different settings appropriate for each room size,” explains Borgata A1 David Frank. “Whether we’re running with airwalls closed, bleachers in or out, or different size configurations, we have two hang positions and can instantly optimize the sound. That’s a real plus.”

    Good coverage is also of paramount importance. “Our coverage has gotten a lot better thanks to the quality and tonality of the speakers,” continues Frank. “We now have a complete system that handles everything—no more renting or pulling gear from trucks.”

    Superior Performance and Problem-Solving

    Naab says that the room sounds “amazing” now with consistent coverage everywhere in the space. “We’ve found that L2 is really nailing that consistency throughout every project we’ve deployed it on,” he adds. He credits much of that success to L-Acoustics Soundvision acoustical modeling software. “We trust in it,” he confirms. “It’s nice to share our thoughts with the client through Soundvision, and be able to very accurately predict the SPL and coverage that they’re going to achieve.”

    The system also solved a persistent acoustic problem. Reagan notes that previously the venue had some slapback issues where sounds would bounce off the back wall when the airwall was in. “With Soundvision and L2, they just hit the button, and it stops the frequencies from bouncing off that wall,” he says. “You get crystal clear audio without having to move anything or treat the walls or deal with anything else. Technology at its finest right there.”

    “And tours keep commenting on how much quieter the stage is,” Reagan adds. “One engineer was amazed – he thought everything was off running through the front of house system because the stage was so clean. That’s just how well the cardioid pattern controls directivity.”

    Frank says the system “has a good response, and it sounds great,” he remarks. “It meets our high expectations and the expectations of our headliners.” He also feels that the Borgata audio team is constantly learning with the L2 system and all of its possibilities. “We host a lot of events here and regularly go back and forth between the concert and the comedy setups, so speed of switchover is of the essence. We’re still in the process of learning how to best streamline the room’s overall reconfiguration, but the L Series loudspeakers are already a big part of helping that go as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

    Reagan and Frank offer major props to Bauder Audio, praising their quality service and how they packaged the system and set up its different configurations, as well as to Bauder A1/Systems Engineer Craig “Junior” Kaufmann for being indispensable in understanding the new system and readily available to help with questions.

  • Nearly 20 Years Later, My Chemical Romance’s Black Parade Carries On With L-Acoustics

    Nearly 20 Years Later, My Chemical Romance’s Black Parade Carries On With L-Acoustics

    When My Chemical Romance released The Black Parade in October of 2006, the album shot to Billboard’s number two slot in its very first week, further cementing the band as darlings of the emo genre. Four months later, the group embarked on a 36-date North American tour, with support acts Rise Against and Muse, carrying an L-Acoustics V-DOSC/dV-DOSC loudspeaker system for its sound reinforcement.

    Over the years since then, the popularity of that influential record has remained strong, prompting MCR to revisit those songs on the road with its current Long Live the Black Parade tour, which will wrap its North American leg in mid-September before heading to South America, Mexico, Asia, and the UK in 2026. This time around, the band is carrying a much larger and more powerful system – a massive L-Acoustics K Series rig provided by Eighth Day Sound, a Clair Global brand – that can be configured and scaled for deployment at any of the major indoor and outdoor sports stadiums, arenas, and ballparks on the global itinerary.

    “This is a loud rock show,” reports System Engineer Andy Fitton who, in just the past year or so, has worked on L-Acoustics tours with Madonna – including the 2024 Rio de Janeiro show where she played to 1.6 million people – and Vampire Weekend. “It runs 101 to 102 dB, and the mains are throwing 120 meters, or 400 feet, maintaining consistent tonal balance from front to back where we transition sonically between the main and delay hangs. To my mind, that is quite impressive.”

    L-Acoustics Earns a Repeat Performance
    MCR FOH Engineer Jay Rigby says he directly credits his decision to use L-Acoustics to Fitton. “When I took over mixing Vampire Weekend a couple of years ago, I fell into working with their System Engineer, Andy, and the K1 PA they had out. I was initially skeptical, but after the first show, it was hands-down the best PA I had ever been on. What Andy is able to do with both Soundvision and K1 is incredible.”

    “On top of that, as this is a reincarnation of My Chemical Romance’s original Black Parade tour, which carried V-DOSC, I thought it would be nice to pay tribute, and keep it ‘French,’” he adds. “We have consistent results where Andy is doing all of the tuning and timing while I am on the flight to the next gig, and when I show up, I turn it on and we are show-ready. It’s been fantastic.”

    K Series Delivers the Firepower
    To accommodate the different venue configurations on the tour, Fitton’s system design includes two main hangs of six K1-SB subs over 14 K1 over four K2 cabinets each. “That’s the largest hang of K1 that you can deploy,” he says. Behind each of those line arrays there are hangs of 16 KS28 subs, configured in a three-to-one ratio cardioid array. Side hangs comprise 16 K1 over six K2, and, for venues where upper bowl seating coverage is necessary, the tour is carrying two additional upstage hangs each of 10 K2. Where delays are required, three to four sets of 12 K2 are available, while on the stage, one A15 Wide and two KS28 subs per side provide side-fill for the band. Up to 108 LA12X amplified controllers are used for the largest shows.”

    “On the ground, we have 12 carts of three KS28 subs with a two-to-one cardioid ratio,” he continues. “We have an A15 Focus for front-fill stacked on top of each one of those carts. That gets wrapped and strapped together on custom carts and rolls in and out like that. Our PA crew has those carts ready to roll to the truck before I have my FOH drive rack turned off when we’re loading out. It’s crazy just how fast this PA system moves in and out.”

    The tour has maxed out the line length of the main hangs to accommodate Rigby’s sound design, Fitton says. “His mix is all about the low-mid. Obviously, you end up with a lot of sub with an array that size, but for him, getting the low-mid to sit in the mix, especially with this band, is absolutely crucial. If you listen to ‘Welcome to the Black Parade,’ there’s a tom fill right before the chorus that’s my favorite part of the whole song. So just making sure that people can feel that impact, even if they’re 600 feet away from the stage, is why we went for that line length.”

    The transition from the main K1 arrays to the K2 delays is completely seamless, Fitton says. “Panflex is an absolute godsend when working with delays. Being able to manipulate transition zones using Soundvision’s coverage and delay modes is a real game changer. It’s like having thousands of virtual measurement mics.”

    “Our load-ins and load-outs have been flawless. It’s so easy to hang the K1, even with such large box counts. Our PA crew is led by crew chief Tristan Johnson, and PA techs Colin Dodds, Katy Ruggiero, Chris DiLeo, and Albert Lim do an excellent job putting the system up. I don’t think there has been a single incorrect angle the entire tour,” adds Fitton.

    Soundvision is the Secret to Success
    Fitton’s secret, he reveals, is L-Acoustics’ latest release of the company’s 3D modeling and prediction software, Soundvision 2025.1. “L-Acoustics has updated the calculation engine so you can look at how your mains and subs interact, how the low end propagates throughout the entire venue, and you can also look at more complex interactions between sources. Unlocking that feature in Soundvision is huge for me. I’m making full use of those new additions to Soundvision, like being able to see the frequency response at FOH, what people in those tough-to-reach spots are hearing, or the transitions between multiple arrays. We also use L-Acoustics’ P1/M1 platform to tune the system. It makes it so easy to collect a large quantity of data very quickly, and it’s a great tool for verifying the validity of the system deployment.”

    Further, he says, “The import feature from Vectorworks [3D CAD software] into Soundvision allows me to have all of the scenic elements of the show drawn in. When I’m working with scenic designers, creative designers, or production managers, it’s so easy to visualize where things go, now that you can draw those detailed elements into Soundvision. Exporting my design to the new Soundvision Connect platform is a great way to share ideas with other stakeholders. And it just looks cool!”

    For all the incredible theatrics on stage, sound still takes precedence, he reports. “Tour Director Jon Dunleavy and Production Manager Andrew ‘Juice’ Werlick are both bona fide FOH engineers; Juice earned his Qualified V-DOSC Technician (QVT) certification in 2004. It’s because of them that we’re able to have such a great sound system.”

    “A huge amount of gratitude and appreciation also goes to Meegan Holmes, our longtime Eighth Day Sound account rep and maker of all things better,” Rigby adds. “Without her, this tour never would have been as successful as it is!”

    A Solid Foundation of Education
    All that said, “The boxes are the boxes, and we could talk about them all day,” Fitton comments. “But something that’s really worth mentioning, that gets to the core of my workflow, is the L-Acoustics education platform.” Fitton was doing grunt work in the warehouse when he first saw the K2 roll through. “It was love at first sight. I was like, ‘Man, I need to learn about this.’ I’ve gone through the entire L-Acoustics training program, from the in-person trainings to the online courses. I’ve seen every single online webinar. I’ve read every research paper that the company has published, which is really the secret sauce, because all of the underlying math and physics and research and development is there for you to read, for free. All you need to do is go look it up under the Education page on the L-Acoustics website.”

    There has also been lots of in-person application support, he continues. “Application engineers like Chris ‘Sully’ Sullivan have really helped me out. Learning all this stuff from them has helped me unlock a level of system deployment with L-Acoustics products that has taken me from the basics of the industry all the way to these big stadium deployments, and all of their tools have been incredible to work with on each step of that journey.”

  • L-Acoustics Brings Visual Style and Stylish Sound to Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club

    L-Acoustics Brings Visual Style and Stylish Sound to Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club

    Originally opened in 1930, The Surf Club, located between Miami Beach and Bal Harbour, was built by tire tycoon Harvey Firestone as the ultimate place to be seen, a playground of the rich and famous during the Great Depression. Over the decades, the venue maintained its popularity, hosting celebrities such as Gary Cooper, Noel Coward, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., The Rat Pack, Elizabeth Taylor, and Douglas MacArthur. And it did it with style: kayaks in the swimming pool, black tie Gatsby-esque dinners, and lavish themed galas – one time with elephants, another with 300 tables made entirely of ice. A full renovation in 2017 introduced a luxury condo-hotel operated by Four Seasons, along with restaurants, a private club, four pools, a gym, and gardens.

    The Surf Club recently approached its sound design with the same level of care and style. In late 2024, Daniel Buckman, President of boutique music consultancy BELLOSOUND, was brought in by Hotel Manager Richard Lanaud to elevate Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club’s music experience. This included a complete audio upgrade of the legendary Champagne Bar.

    To lead the technical design and implementation, Buckman brought in Corry McGibbon, President of The 192 Group. McGibbon oversees BELLOSOUND’s technical strategy across all global installations, ensuring premium sound quality and seamless integration. To meet both aesthetic and performance requirements, they turned to L-Acoustics, which offered both Art Deco-compatible style and sonic substance.

    “While the existing sound system at Champagne Bar served its purpose, there was an opportunity to enhance the ambiance with greater depth and richness,” observes McGibbon. “The space’s reflective surfaces also made it challenging to maintain balanced acoustics at higher volumes, highlighting the potential to further refine the overall guest experience.”

    However, any changes had to be done with sensitivity to the venue’s architectural and cultural heritage. “The hotel is within a meticulously restored historic property; any updates had to be discreet and approved through a detailed design review,” he emphasizes. “We were tasked with delivering a solution that offers pristine, ambient background music during the day and a vibrant, energetic soundscape for DJ-led evenings, without compromising the space’s architectural integrity. L-Acoustics offered the perfect solutions.”

    Those solutions included ultra-compact X4i loudspeakers, selected for their clarity and diminutive size. Conveniently, their form factor matched the dimensions of the wood trim on the arched glass doors surrounding the room. “Using Soundvision software, we accurately modeled the space and were able to predict the angles in advance, enabling us to specify a minimalist Tilt 40 fixed bracket rather than relying on large adjustable mounts,” McGibbon explains.

    Eight SB10i subwoofers fit perfectly within the custom banquette planters that run down the center of the room, providing a full, warm low-end presence without any visible impact. And, as a final flourish – and McGibbon’s personal favorite – a single Syva + Syva Low system was placed adjacent to the DJ booth. “This setup delivers the dynamic range and energy required for evening entertainment, perfectly complementing the more subtle system elements used during the day,” he says, further noting that L-Acoustics amplified controllers integrated seamlessly to the Q-SYS distributed audio system. “They also allow our support teams access to remote monitoring,” he adds.

    Music choices for the venue and the system are as important as any other aesthetic decisions says BELLOSOUND’s Buckman, who describes both the space and the sound as “sophisticated and chic, celebrating the history and legacy of the venue. The association with Four Seasons means the sound quality has to be exceptional – and the L-Acoustics speakers deliver exactly that.”

    On the subject of visuals, McGibbon points out that the X4i’s rich wood finish fit complements the lounge décor perfectly, while the white-finished Syva loudspeakers blend well in their location. “You barely notice them, they fit so well; but when you do spot them, it’s clear that they belong in a place like this,” he says.

    The ultimate compliment may have come from the entertainers who perform in the restaurant and bar. “They’ve commented on how good the room sounds now,” says Buckman. “There are very high expectations for the sound here, and L-Acoustics has clearly met them.”

  • Riviera Theatre Experiences a “French Revival” with New L-Acoustics L Series Concert Sound System

    Riviera Theatre Experiences a “French Revival” with New L-Acoustics L Series Concert Sound System

    Chicago’s Riviera Theatre first opened in 1917 as a lavish French Renaissance Revival-style movie palace for the Balaban & Katz chain. But the historic Uptown venue took on a new life 50 years ago, when emerging concert promoter Jam Productions booked Supertramp for a show in April 1975. Since then, “The Riv” has remained a cornerstone of Chicago’s live music scene, earning a place in the pantheon of legendary venues alongside San Francisco’s Fillmore. While the $5.50 ticket price from that debut concert is long gone, the experience continues to improve – most recently with the installation of a cutting-edge L-Acoustics L Series loudspeaker system.

    In recent years, the 2,500 capacity venue has undertaken a major restoration effort to bring the century-old theater back to its original splendor. As part of the renovation, it became clear that the sound system needed an upgrade. Jam turned to Minnesota-based Allied Productions, who in 2017 installed an L-Acoustics system at the Palace Theatre (St. Paul, MN) and had recently installed the world’s first L Series system at Minneapolis’ iconic First Avenue – earning rave reviews from both artists and fans.

    “Having experienced Allied Productions’ exceptional work and the impressive performance of the L-Acoustics system during its installation at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, I became a strong admirer of both,” says Jerry Mickelson, CEO, President, and Co-founder of Jam Productions. “So when it came time to upgrade the sound at the Riv, bringing them in was an easy decision.”

    Today, the Riv’s sound system is comprised of two L-Acoustics L2 enclosures flown over a single L2D per side as mains, sonically anchored by 11 KS28 subs spread out under the downstage edge of the deck. Four A10 Focus enclosures line the stage lip supplying front-fill, while four A15i Wide and five A10i Wide ceiling-mounted under the balcony serve as distributed delay fills. Seven 16-channel LA7.16 amplified controllers drive the main arrays and distributed delays, six four-channel LA12X power the subs and front-fills, and the entire system runs on a redundant Milan-AVB network managed by two P1 processors.

    Onstage, a dozen L-Acoustics X15 HiQ wedges plus two KS21 subs are available to offer monitoring, as is a side-fill system featuring two arrays of two KS21, one A15 Focus, and one A15 Wide flown behind the L Series on each side of the stage.

    Allied Productions also supplied the venue with two DiGiCo Quantum225 Pulse consoles: one at stage left joined by a pair of SD-Racks, and the other out at front of house, paired with an XTA M36 console switch to accommodate artists carrying their own control surfaces.

    As structural integrity and architectural renovations had been completed before sound system upgrade began, preserving these features was paramount. Tyler Thomas, who led Allied Productions’ engineering team, explains how this led to rigging challenges: “Deep into the project, the rigging plan was simplified to a single point hang per side, since the entire system was fabricated and installed before the PA renovation.” Their Soundvision model easily accommodated the redesign with minimal impact – just a .01 degree difference. L-Acoustics proved ideal for the project due to the lightweight design of L Series and its versatile rigging options. Thomas notes, “Each L Series enclosure comes in under a half-ton. A comparable system would have been at least 500 pounds heavier. And the L2-BAR’s versatile rigging options allowed us to work within the building’s existing constraints rather than requiring structural modifications. We simply needed to tie the speakers to a permanent pipe to ensure proper alignment while respecting the completed architectural restoration.”

    The Riv’s first show to feature the new L Series was a Dweezil Zappa concert, held just three days after calibration. “The sound quality is remarkable throughout the entire venue, even reaching the furthest balcony seats,” says Thomas. “The L Series cardioid drivers also significantly reduce noise bleed onstage.”

    Thomas notes that the technical performance exceeded expectations from the start. ”Our Soundvision design predictions were spot-on, with less than one decibel of frequency response variation from front to back of the venue. We achieved 98% of our high-volume sound distribution targets and 99.8% of our overall volume change targets from front to back – performance metrics that other speaker systems would struggle to match.” Beyond sound quality, the system’s visual impact was also considered: “The elegant L2/L2D design helps the equipment visually disappear, keeping the focus on the performers. Both the Riviera Theatre team and Jam Productions are extremely satisfied with the coverage and sound.”