A Norwegian venue, Lørenskog Hus, has employed the Yamaha AFC3 acoustic enhancement system to transform its main auditorium into an acoustically enhanced space.
Opened three years ago, Lørenskog Hus is a multi-purpose municipal venue located 20 minutes from Oslo. Covering 15,000sqm over eight floors, it features five auditoriums, four cinema screens, seven meeting rooms, a restaurant and a library. Providing a focal point for the regional community, it stages a wide variety of live productions and hosts conferences, corporate and cultural events, as well as showing films and other activities.
“When the venue was built, the goal was to make the acoustics in our main auditorium flexible enough for all genres of music – everything from choirs, marching bands and symphony orchestras to pop, rock and rap,” says Kristoffer Engen, technical manager at Lørenskog Hus. “The problem was that we ended up with a very dry room, which was very good for amplified music, but which gave musicians onstage during unamplified performances very little acoustic return.
“We knew that we needed to find a solution for the acoustic musicians, without ruining the excellent qualities that the room has for amplified music. We quickly found that an electroacoustic system was not only the best solution for us, but also the most cost efficient.”
Yamaha AFC3 was the chosen solution, with the system installed and commissioned by Panpot Acoustic Systems, a company which has made electronic acoustic enhancement systems its core business.
“Although we have used other systems, it was not until we listened to AFC3 that we knew we had a system that could match our very high quality demands,” says Jo Wang, Panpot tuning engineer. “The fact that AFC3 is a hybrid-regenerative system makes it act as a truly integrated part of the room acoustics, not just as an electronic reverb effect. The audience and the performers are in the same reverberant space and the room reacts just as much to the audience applause as to the performing artists. The communication and connection between the stage and the auditorium is enhanced both ways.”
