Asian Pro Music (APM) has carried out a complete audio/visual upgrade of the Palace of the Republic in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city.
Built in 1970 — with a 3,000-seat flat auditorium situated under a tented roof, with no balcony tiers — the Palace structure was recently completely renovated. At the same time its technical infrastructure has been boosted as part of a complete AV upgrade by APM Music, which includes a high performance AKG CS 5 Digital Conference System.
With more than 16 years experience, APM won a competitive bid for the contract “to completely equip The Palace with high-end AV technology, from A to Z,” according to the company’s sales coordinator, Kamila Seidemetova.
The Palace is mainly used as a large concert hall that can also be adapted to host various film festivals, awards, conventions and big annual meetings. It sets out to be one of the most technologically advanced concert halls in Central Asia, and when the Mayor of Almaty spoke through the CS5 during the City’s annual report presentation, the AKG conference system passed its evaluation test with flying colors.
By this time the system was already on APM Music’s specification list. The requirement was for synchronized translation for 3000 people spanning seven languages, with a conference system that would serve 20 people. In addition it needed to be sufficiently versatile for use during festivals, certain movie screenings and musicals.
As the official distributor of Harman Professional brands, APM had earmarked AKG as far back as February 2011.
“There was never any doubt about using it for this particular project,” said Mr. Seidemetova. “Furthermore, our partner and friend Thomas Giczy of AKG recommended this particular system as being best fit for purpose — largely based on the quality of the audio.”
APM CEO, Maxim Vostrov endorsed this move. “We decided that AKG Acoustics would provide the best high-end conference and synchronized translation system. This was proved justified, as once the installation was complete, the high quality and simplicity of operation were immediately noted.
“Correct placement of the infrared emitters allowed us to obtain crystal clear sound on all eight channels of synchronized translation.”
The modular, expandable AKG CS 5 covers any application from a small discussion setup to large, complex conference systems, built around very few components, yet maintaining maximum flexibility and outstanding price/performance. It guarantees optimum intelligibility as well as intuitive, fatigue-free use.
The mic stations, designed to be shared by two persons, will not only reduce costs significantly, but also occupy less space on conference tables.
The system in Almaty for 20 delegates combines the CS 5 BU base unit with CS 5 BOB breakout box, to provide an additional 16 analogue channel output, CS 5 VU voting units, CS 5 DU delegate units, CS 5 IU interpreter units, GN 30 CS and GN 50 CS (30cm and 50cm) goosenecks, plus various infrared transmitters/receivers and headphones.
The AKG specification was the highlight of a multiple Harman-brand installation, which included the integration of JBL cinema loudspeakers (including 4732 three-way screen array, 4642A subs and 8350 surrounds), Crown CTs 2000 amplification (with IQ3USP3CN PIP module), dbx and BSS processing and Soundcraft MH3 and Vi6 digital mixing consoles.
In addition to the design and provision of the AV systems, APM were also responsible for the stage mechanics, architectural acoustic optimization and large LED screens.