The fountains at Akshardham, known as ‘sahaj-anand’ (‘subtle bliss’ or ‘eternal bliss’) in India, are one of the Swaminaryan Akshardham temple’s main attractions. The area surrounding the fountains seats 3,500 guests for a nightly multimedia performance which has deployed Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers for audio.
Created by the design team at Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), which owns the temple, the system's audio is comprised of 20 VARIA VAX101-15 and VAX101-22 modular point source line arrays, along with 20 STX-LA/9W line array loudspeakers. Low frequency reinforcement is handled by 20 CFX15S and 12 DRS18-2B subwoofers.
Vipul Vaghela from BAPS explained the configuration of the sound system and the challenges faced: “The arena is a step well, and the seating rakes downward from the back row, with the fountain located in the centre and below ground level. Sound sources are located both at the fountain, and at the projection wall, and both of these primary sound sources must be in sync."
Reflected sound was another issue to contend with. Vaghela added: "The show requires a rather elaborate surround sound experience, and the stone walls of many of the adjacent buildings created a major challenge in keeping reflected sound to a minimum.â€
This confluence of technical issues was instrumental in BAPS engineering team's decision to go with Renkus-Heinz technology. Vaghela said: "We have worked with Renkus-Heinz on similar projects in the past, with excellent results, and we were confident that their technology was ideally suited for this type of a challenge.â€
The sound system at the fountains at Akshardham have been operating without problems.