The Aalborg Congress and Culture Centre (AKKC) has installed Alcons systems as part of a major technical refit. Three Alcons systems were supplied by the company’s Danish distributor, Ascon Trading.
Denmark’s AKKC attracts more than 500,000 visitors a year to music and theatre performances, trade fairs, exhibitions, meetings and congresses.
“We were visited by a production which had the an Alcons LR16/LR16B PA system and we were impressed by the sound. It was very clear and had great presence,” said AKKC head of sound, Søren Hansen.
“When we were looking for new speaker systems, we did a comprehensive listening test with the Alcons system alongside two other brands. In our opinion Alcons was the best sounding and most flexible system for our purposes.”
Ascon Trading supplied three Alcons systems at the AKKC complex, permanent installations in the venue’s two main spaces - the Aalborghallen and Europasalen - plus a mobile system, with Alcons Niels Janssen doing the final setup and fine tuning.
The system in the 2,200m
2 Aalborghallen comprises 12 LR16 and 4 LR16B per side, with three LR14 for downfill and three more for nearfield each side. The system in the 880m² Europasalen comprises six LR14 and two LR14B per side, while the mobile system features six LR14/120, six LR14/90 and four BF362 subs. All three systems are driven by Alcons ALC4 amplifiers, with the BF362s also able to add extra bass punch to the two permanent systems, if required.
“There are two QSC networks, one in each of the main halls, so engineers can log on and control the systems from different places within the room,” said Hansen. It allows monitoring of each amplifier’s impedance, temperature, volume levels and switching individual amps on or off and recall different setups for different configurations of the room.”
The latter is a critical point, as the Aalborghallen is a flexible space which can be changed in size. Thus, while the width and height are constant, the length can vary in 4.5 metre steps from 25 up to 70 metres long.
“We are very happy with the systems and have received very positive comments from visiting engineers, who are very impressed with sound and the clarity,” said Hansen. “The Aalborghallen system can be set up in many ways, depending on the configuration of the room, and all three systems sound excellent.”
“We are very proud of this installation,” concludes Torben Lauersen of Ascon Trading. “Alcons was chosen because it proved the best system in direct listening comparisons with the other systems and it really underlined the advantages of the Pro-Ribbon technology.”