MTELUS, a 2,300-capacity live performance venue located in downtown Montréal that opened in 1884 and at various times in its history has been a skating rink, a summer theater, a cinema and a discotheque named Metropolis, recently received a new sound reinforcement system designed and installed by Solotech that incorporates L-Acoustics K3 line arrays and supporting components.
“Welcoming world-class touring artists and engineers requires a world-class concert sound system,” says Reno Richard, chief audio engineer at MTELUS. “L-Acoustics solidly delivered with K3, which is now proudly showcased here in our venue.”
Design support and calibration was provided by André Pichette, senior application engineer for install at L-Acoustics, and was approved by evenko, which books MTELUS in a partnership with Live Nation. The system comprises a left-right configuration with 10 K3 elements flown per side and four KS28 ground-stacked, cardioid-configured subwoofers per side. There are also six A15 Wide, four A10i Wide, and four X8 for various fills, and the entire setup is powered by LA12X and LA4X amplified controllers, with a P1 Milan AVB processor on the front end.
Not surprisingly for a venue built in the 19th century, MTELUS has some acoustic quirks. “The venue has a fairly low balcony, so it’s a challenge to cover the space beneath it, and it can make it difficult to find sweet spots to add delay boxes without blocking sightlines,” explains Richard, who has been with the MTELUS for two decades. “We also have a hollow stage and dance floor, a giant dome up in the ceiling, and quite a few bass traps. There is acoustic treatment in most key reflection-prone curvatures in the venue, but it definitely remained a challenge to cover it all with surgical precision.
“When we heard about K3, a more compact box but still packing a mighty punch with its dual 12-inch drivers, I was confident that we had found our new PA solution,” he adds. “Once installed, it became clear we had filled a gap between the eight-inch tops and 18-inch subs from the previous system. K3’s Panflex feature enables accurate SPL guidance and allows us to reduce reflections along the walls. We added a few A10 delays in hidden corners, and the downstage edge is widely covered with A15 fills and X8 lip-fills. The middle boxes of the main stacks provide long-throw over the audience’s heads and target that tight space. The system really addresses all of these challenges well.”
Martin Berthiaume, Solotech’s business developer for large venues throughout the Canadian market, agrees that MTELUS was a somewhat challenging venue regarding its sound but notes that the effort has proven to be worth it. “I cannot count the number of shows I went to see there when I was younger,” he says. “It’s a wonderful music venue and deserves the best sound system possible. Now it has that.”
The sound team sought to have the project to ready for a round of major tours in mid-summer. “We had five days to accomplish installation, tuning, and commissioning, and we had to find a gap in the schedule during July — the height of the festival season — for that,” Berthiaume recalls. “But the effort was worth it. MTELUS sounds fantastic!”
IThe new K3 system replaces a dV-DOSC system previously installed at the venue. “That system served us well for the past 20-plus years; it was carefully chosen and designed for this venue, and it definitely met our needs to welcome countless legendary shows on our stage,” says Richard. “L-Acoustics products are world-renowned because they thoroughly proved their capability and fidelity over time. Touring engineers are always reassured while advancing tech specs, knowing they’re walking into a venue operating on a professional and well-maintained sound system. It was a natural decision to keep this great partnership with L-Acoustics while graduating to more modern technology, and we’re absolutely loving what we’re now hearing with K3.”
