Q-Sys, the integrated system platform from QSC Audio Products, is playing a controlling role at a recently built, 50-million-dollar theatre in Western China, an impressively modern symbol of the new economy in the Far East.
The striking new Grand Theatre in Lanzhou, capital of the province of Gansu in Western China, opened in late 2011, a excitingly modern building of rounded corners and flowing, curved glass constructed at an approximate cost of 350 million RMB (over $50 million US).
With a large-scale 1500-seat auditorium, a 300-seat hall and a press conference chamber of 150 seats, plus 20 smaller meeting rooms, the 7-storey state-of-the-art theatre was envisaged as a multi-disciplinary building with the ability to host conventions and events as well as drama and concerts.
Designed according to the guiding principles of the project — which were that the new theatre should exhibit the best in scientific, environmental and sustainable principles — intelligent, networked audio systems are used throughout, centrally controlled by the Q-Sys platform. The QSC systems were supplied by PCI, the exclusive QSC distributor in China.
Q-Sys is used to process and route all the audio in the main auditorium, the 300-seat hall and the building’s PA/VA public address/alarm system, right down to controlling individual loudspeakers and amplifiers where required.
Each conference room at the theatre (22 in total) has its own Q-Sys I/O Frame which controls the audio inputs, routing and loudspeakers in each room. All are centrally accessible from the two Q-Sys Core 3000 master processors in the theatre’s main control room, to which all of the I/O Frames are linked by the building’s internal CAT-6 network connections.
Wall-mounted control panels with software running in a variety of local languages allow per-room control of the Q-Sys routing and processing functions. Access is also possible via wireless laptops and tablets for admin and troubleshooting functions throughout the building, allowing management of all the systems by just a few technicians, with full redundancy.
“The technical systems at the Gansu theatre set a new standard in intelligent, sustainable systems, within China and beyond,” commented a spokesman for the new theatre. “Q-Sys, the advanced audio networking system, plays a large part in setting that standard. The system has been the perfect choice for us.”
