Main: The VIDA cluster
during setup
Inset: A VIDA L/C unit
AUDIO
KLING & FREITAG
Trial by
television
T he Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg,
Having impressed at a televised awards show,
Kling & Freitag’s VIDA speaker system was chosen for
permanent installation at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie
Germany, was designed by Herzog
& de Meuron, with acoustics by
Yasuhisa Toyota, and opened in
2017. The biggest of its two concert
halls is the 2,100-capacity Grand Hall, while the
building also incorporates a hotel, apartments
and a public viewing area.
In October 2017 an event was held in the
Grand Hall that would prove pivotal – Echo
Klassik 2017, Germany’s award ceremony for
classical music, which was broadcast live on
German public television.
Broadcast sound
Neumann & Müller, a leading event technology
provider, was put in charge of the technical
aspects of the award ceremony, including the
provision of the broadcast sound feed. The
company chose various solutions from Kling
& Freitag’s Versatile Intelligent Digital Array
(VIDA) series for the event.
For the live audience sound, Neumann
& Müller deployed several VIDA L/C steerable
column speakers. These units were positioned
carefully to achieve precise coverage of the
main audience area. The VIDA units were
covered with a white stretch fabric and flown
from a circle truss so that they would fit in
unobtrusively, as befitting the high-end setting
of the televised event.
“Representatives of the Elbphilharmonie were
so impressed with the sonic experience of the live
sound that they started a direct cooperation with
Kling & Freitag following the awards ceremony,”
comments Christoph Wöhler, senior consultant
at Kling & Freitag.
The Elbphilharmonie wanted to replicate
the quality of the setup with the elegance of
a small footprint. After an initial planning
phase, Neumann & Müller and Kling & Freitag
collaborated to set up a demonstration of VIDA
at the concert hall. AiR Ingenieurbüro and
ASC were also involved in defining the final
configuration that would best fit the venue.
The demonstration showcased live system
control via the Kling & Freitag VIDA app,
low-latency reproduction and the ability to
recall preset configurations to accommodate
and support the wide range of applications
that are held at the Elbphilharmonie.
Venue flexibility
“The ability to change coverage and tuning so
that the system can be optimized for speech and
music was a huge improvement,” says Wöhler.
“The accuracy of the simulation was praised for
being nearly identical when compared with
numerous measurements.”
VIDA C cardioid modules were used to
enhance low-frequency pattern control. “This
allowed the system to have extraordinarily full
76 AUDITORIA 2019 VOLUME ONE
Photos: Kling & Freitag