Founded more than a century ago, the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam
Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), in New Delhi, India is a global socio-spiritual
organization based upon the Hindu teachings of Bhagwan Swaminarayan.
With a worldwide network of mandirs (temples), the organization’s crown jewel is
Swaminaryan Akshardham, a breathtakingly beautiful temple and grounds created
by over 11,000 artisans and volunteers, Dedicated in 2005, Akshardham attracts a
great many tourists who visit Delhi.
The fountains at Akshardham, known as “Sahaj-Anand” (“Subtle Bliss” or “Eternal
Bliss”), are one of the temple’s main attractions. Built upon the design of the
region’s grand traditional step-wells, it measures 300 x 300 feet, with 2,870 steps
and 108 small shrines. The arena surrounding the fountains seats around 3500
guests, who are treated nightly to a beautifully orchestrated multimedia
performance that takes visitors on an informative and inspiring journey using an
ancient scriptural story to highlight the moral values inspired by Hindu. The show
features a magnificent interplay of water, fire, lasers and lights, video projection,
narration, and music, including a massive surround sound system employing a
range of Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers.
Created by BAPS’ own design team, the system’s audio is comprised of 20 VARIA
VAX101-15 and VAX101-22 modular point source line arrays, along with 20 STX-
LA/9W line array loudspeakers. Low frequency reinforcement is handled by 20
CFX15S and 12 DRS18-2B subwoofers.
As BAPS’ Vipul Vaghela explains, the arena’s configuration is anything but typical,
and sound system design presented a number of unique challenges. “The arena is a
step well, and the seating rakes downward from the back row, with the fountain
located in the center and below ground level,” says Vaghela. “Sound sources are
located both at the fountain, and at the projection wall, and both of these primary
sound sources must be in sync.”
Reflected sound was another issue to contend with. “The show requires a rather
elaborate surround sound experience, and the stone walls of many of the adjacent
buildings created a major challenge in keeping reflected sound to a minimum,”
Vaghela observes.
This confluence of technical issues was instrumental in BAPS engineering team’s
decision to go with Renkus-Heinz technology. “We have worked with Renkus-Heinz
on similar projects in the past and we were confident that their technology was
ideally suited for this type of a challenge” says Vaghela. “Their VARIA technology
enabled us to design a system that would provide very precise coverage to only the
audience areas, while minimizing the sound to areas that would generate
problematic reflections.”
Since opening in November 2014, the Fountains at Akshardham have educated and
entertained countless guests from all over the world, delivering sights and sounds
that create a uniquely moving experience.
