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Streetheart performing with the new L-Acoustics rig at Winnipeg’s Club Regent Event Centre (Photo Credit: Don Windsor)

L-Acoustics Brings Versatile Performance To Club Regent Event Center In Winnipeg

Designed by Engineering Harmonics and installed by Solotech, new system utilizing K3 arrays can match the venue’s flexible seating system in any configuration.

Before any entertainer ever sets foot on its stage, Club Regent Event Centre In Winnipeg is already equipped to put on a show with its computer-automated flexible seating system that can adapt in minutes into over a dozen seating configurations for any kind of show, and the venue is now also equipped with upgraded sound reinforcement via a new system utilizing L-Acoustics K3 arrays and additional components.

The 1,400-seat venue, which is part of the larger Club Regent Casino, hosts events that include theatrical, concert, meetings, and more. “This is a fairly complex sound system for a very flexible environment,” explains Martin Van Djik, senior consultant and partner at Toronto-based Engineering Harmonics, which designed the Solotech-integrated system.

It comprises L/R hangs of eight new K3 loudspeaker enclosures each, with six 12 KS21 subwoofers per side, eight arrays of three Kiva II as delays, eight coaxial X8 front fills, two larger X12 out fills, four A15 Wide deck fills, and one center fill consisting of one K3 plus four Kara II. Nine LA12X and four LA4X amplified controllers drive the system, which is connected to an audio network using six LS10 AVB network switches. A DiGiCo Quantum338 console was also part of the new package, installed by integrator AVG.

“We had to design a system that would always provide excellent coverage, whether the room was configured for Broadway show-style theater seating or as a flat, open ballroom-type floor for a trade event or fundraiser,” Van Djik says. “Each configuration has its own specific coverage needs, so we designed a sound system to accommodate all of them.” For instance, he says, the rear of the venue can be scrimmed off to create a more intimate space and thus changing the Kiva II delay coverage depending upon the type of event.

Another characteristic of the venue that required added attention is the fact that it has a relatively low ceiling. Thus, the delays are necessary to achieve the throw required to hit the rear seats. “More speakers gave us the ability to cover that distance and not sacrifice any dynamic range or sonic quality while doing so,” says Van Djik.

He also notes that the L-Acoustics product line gave him plenty of options to achieve these design goals. For instance, K3 is designed to meet the needs of applications that require long-throw, reinforced low-frequency contour, broad bandwidth, and limited footprint, such as this venue. Van Djik specified the K3 without ever having heard it first.

“With the pandemic, it’s been difficult to experience new products, but based on the K3 specifications and the fact that L-Acoustics products all deliver an excellent sonic experience, I felt confident in recommending it for this project,” he says. “They ticked all the boxes, including low weight and high power-to-weight ratio.”

The same goes, he adds, for the relatively new A Series loudspeakers, whose A15 Wide versions are used as deck fills. “I just specified A Series speakers on a smaller project in Toronto and was really impressed with the way they sound. And all L-Acoustics systems are rider-friendly, so we know that touring shows will find them attractive.”

Van Djik worked with Gino Pellicano (L-Acoustics application project manager, consultant liaison — Americas) and Andre Pichette (L-Acoustics senior application project engineer — USA & Canada) onsite. “L-Acoustics gave me the tool kit I needed for what was a complex project, and both the client and the artists they’ve been hosting have all been very happy.”

L-Acoustics
Engineering Harmonics
Solotech

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