National Theatre in Warsaw dates back to an institution established in 1765 by King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski. The first premiere was held on 19th November 1765. During the years the location of this theater was being changed, where currently it seats at the Grand Theater building at the Theater Square in Warsaw.
This object consists of four stages:
• Bogusławski Hall
• Small Theater
• Studio
• and Jerzy Grzegorzewski stage at Wierzbowa Street.
Bogusławski Hall is one of the more magnificent theater objects, both in size as well as appearance. The 390 m2 stage is equipped with 4 large and 2 small trapdoors and a orchestra pit, which can be raised up to the stage level. The audience including the balconies and loges can seat a total of 625 spectators.
As part of the project, M.Ostrowski Company delivered and commissioned a front sound reinforcement system for the W. Bogusławski stage, designed by Konsbud-Audio Sp. z o.o.
Considering the rank of this object, the design of the sound system was performed in close cooperation with the investor, based on the tender requirements and essential conditions and requirements.
The basic elements comprising this system include:
• front stage audience sound system
• sound monitor system
• mixing console
The high quality and appropriate level of sound is assured by 33 passive speaker sets from D&B Audiotechnik, supplied from 8 dual-channel amplifiers of the same Company. The total rated power of the installed front audio system is 14,4 kW. The main audience sound reinforcement system consists of two line array clusters, each consisting of 6-speaker wide-range sets, along with low-frequency units mounted above them. These are complemented by a central cluster of speakers mounted above the stage. All of these are mounted using a system of winches/hoists, designed, delivered and installed by our Company. This includes the right and left hoists, capable of lifting 300 kg each and the central hoist foreseen for up to 100 kg. The lifting devices are all mounted at the central part of the ceiling above the proscenium.
Sound for the front rows of the audience is provided by 8 speaker sets, located on both sides as well as in the center of the proscenium.
All of the sound signals coming from the stage are available for:
• frontal sound reinforcement system
• audio monitor feedback
• radio and TV usage
Signals for the abovementioned usage, coming from microphones, are supplied through an audio splitter, equipped with 64 inputs and 3 sections, each with 64 outputs.
The system offers a very wide spectrum of possibilities, thanks to a set of 30 wireless microphone channels as well as 27 wire microphones, from Companies such as: Audio-technica, AKG or SHURE. The complexity of the microphone system is evident when one looks at some of the equipment, including 15 double wireless microphone receivers and 30 miniature wireless microphone transmitter sets. The new wireless microphone system allows for true diversity operation, whilst its operating frequencies were selected not to interfere with the existing system, allowing both to operate simultaneously. An interesting feature of this system is the ability to remotely view the individual transmitter and receiver parameters at the FOH computer, using Ethernet. Probably the most important advantage of this feature is the ability to check the battery power levels of transmitters.
The central element of the system is a YAMAHA DM2000V2 mixing console, providing control over 96 channels. Thanks to AES/EBU digital audio transmission between the stage and FOH, we have limited the number and length of analog connections, which greatly improves the sound transmission quality, whilst also reducing costs compared to usage of analog channels. This mixing console allows for both stereo as well as multichannel sound management, using the already existing speaker sets installed at the theater.
A large challenge for our employees was to assure compatibility between the existing theater equipment and the new devices being supplied by M. Ostrowski Company. In order to integrate the systems, we have installed additional A/D and D/A converters from YAMAHA, which allowed for transfer of input signals to the mixing console as well as the FOH mixer output signals. Among others, this solution allows for:
• supply of microphone signals to the FOH mixing console from any place of the stage or the orchestra pit
• cooperation between the new sound system and the already existing audience and stage effects speakers
• cooperation of the new sound monitoring stage and orchestra pit feedback system with the existing system
In addition to the above, M.Ostrowski Company provided design and installation of a complete power supply and grounding system.
Knowledge and experience of our employees allowed for implementation of the new system and its full integration with the existing installations. The new system shall simply the sound engineers’ tasks and guarantees top quality sound, as confirmed by the received user references.