The Czech Republic spa town of Marianske Lazne has long been one of Europe’s
most exclusive destinations, drawing the patronage of British royalty, Frederic
Chopin, Alfred Nobel and even Winston Churchill. The historic town, whose name
translates into English as “Maria’s Spa”, is also home to the Casino Cultural and
Conference Centre – a beautiful building, constructed in 1899, which once hosted the
world’s first film festival, and now accommodates the annual Chopin Festival as well
as the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra.
Within the venue is the Marble Hall, a stunning banquet and concert space of more
than 4,047 square feet (376m2). But while the ornate marble walls, pillars, domes
and arches all offer a feast for the eyes, the resulting acoustic properties were less
kind to visitors’ ears. Until very recently, the problem was somewhat compounded
by the venue’s long-term use of pole-mounted two-way enclosures. Finally, in 2015,
the venue’s management decided to seek out a new audio solution for the space
that was simple to use but capable of matching up to the Marble Hall’s multi-
purpose clientele and grand reputation.
The company charged with finding that solution was renowned systems integrator
STA Servis. In turn, the Karlovy Vary-based company, with a team led by Petr
Kabat and Tomas Muller, engaged Prague’s Audio Digital to join the project as a
consultant. Ultimately, the search led to a system using a Dante-equipped Symetrix
Prism 8×8 as its DSP backbone.
In the now completed hall, the majority of the audience area is covered by two
wall-mounted coaxial two-way SR-S4L + SR-S4S column speakers from TOA. No
attention to detail has been spared – even the wall-mounting brackets have been
custom designed to match the interior of the hall. Delays for the rear of the hall are
courtesy of two wall-mounted SR-S4S column arrays, while low-end extension is
provided by two Electro-Voice powered subwoofers that can be added to the set-up
when required.
Crucially, the Symetrix Prism 8×8 ties the system together as the main Dante-
equipped, eight I/O DSP, providing the required ease of operation. “This was a
typical example of a venue with almost contradictory requirements – a really
complex and feature-rich DSP was necessary but at the same time the user needed
a simple-to-use GUI for real time control of the system by non-technical staff,”
explains Michal Zeman of Audio Digital. “We know Symetrix DSPs combine these
two worlds very well in a single unit, and all at a reasonable price point, which is
always a big factor in our market. More importantly, we proved that to the
integrator, which convinced them that the Prism 8×8 was exactly what they needed.
