Eight months of painstaking renovation successfully completed!
The renovation of the Victoria Hall in the Swiss city of Geneva has taken almost 9 months. The hall, which was built between 1891 and 1894 by Geneva-based architect John Camoletti, was renovated at a cost of around six million Euros. The Hall's name can be traced backed to Sir Daniel Barton, who as the British Consul at the time dedicated this magnificent concert hall, which is still famed for its excellent acoustics, to Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Even today, the British classics label Decca still uses the hall for concert recordings because of its fantastic acoustic properties.
The magnificent auditorium from the late Baroque period has now been rejuvenated. And the new stage has enough room to accommodate 125 musicians comfortably. The careful restorations even have something to offer the audience. New seating arrangements provide the very highest level of comfort for 1835 members of the public, and state-of-the-art air-conditioning ensures good ventilation and a comfortable temperature at all times.
Fig. 1: Resplendent late-Baroque galleries in the Geneva Victoria Hall
Late-Baroque in harmony with the latest technical innovations? Not a problem!
The crowning glory of this sumptuous concert hall is without doubt the painstakingly restored organ, a gigantic instrument that was destroyed after a fire in 1984 and then rebuilt by the Dutch organ-builder Van den Heuvel. The hall is able to boast many other examples of exquisite workmanship, which add to the overall feel of magnificence. On the other hand, because the hall opens its doors not only to unamplified classical concerts but also hosts increasing numbers of jazz and world music events as well as auctions, it was inevitable that a top-of-the-range PA system would be installed. The PA system is there quite simply to ensure excellent tonality, whilst still meeting all other stringent quality standards.
Fig. 2: People pale into insignificance next to this organ. The word 'gigantic' doesn't even come close!
The technical features in detail
Thus, the front part of the hall has 18 discreetly arranged loud-speaker systems manufactured by the French company Nexo, which ensure that the public loud-speaker system is acoustically balanced with a rich, detailed tone (10 x Geo S805, 4 Geo S830 and 4 x Geo CD12 sub-bass units). Smaller Nexo speakers of the PS-8 type support the Geos in the form of delay lines to the galleries.
And at the back of the Hall, a pair of Nexo PS-8 systems (seven in each pair), can be used if necessary as frontfills below the stage to provide sound to the first few rows of the auditorium.
The loudspeakers are regulated by controllers, likewise from Nexo. For the large Geo systems, two digital Nexo NX242 plus and NXtention ES-4 EtherSound cards have been installed. The smaller PS-8 frontfills and delay lines are operated by four smaller Nexo-PS-8TD controllers.
A total of eight amplifiers from the German company Camco supply the power for the Nexo loudspeakers. These eight amplifiers are made up of four Tecton 22.2 power amplifiers that supply the PS-8 loudspeakers, with another four Tecton amplifiers (32.4 and 32.8) supplying the Geo systems.
Before the audio signals reach the controllers, amplifiers and loudspeaker systems, they pass through a Yamaha Digital Mixing Engine DME24N, which functions as a digital matrix. The DME forms the interface between whoever is renting out the hall and the hall's own internal PA system. With the aid of the DME, the input signals can be processed via compressors and EQ, or if necessary these signals can be delayed and routed to any type of loudspeaker system.
Fig. 3: Almost invisible: the discreet Nexo systems
Zapaudio - years of experience and technical virtuosity
The technical virtuosity required to integrate this complex system within the Victoria Hall so as to be almost invisible, without sacrificing any acoustic richness could only have been achieved thanks to the fantastic work of Zapaudio. The company, founded in 1977 by René von Arx, has offices in Geneva and Winterthur. In Switzerland, Zapaudio is one of the major retailers of Yamaha equipment, and also distributes other exclusive brands such as Nexo, Auvitran and Camco. The Eighties saw the company concentrate on the rental and manufacture of flight cases; the Nineties saw these activities supplemented by sales and selected installation work, carried out by René von Arx's new business partner, Frédéric Walder.
Frédéric Walder from Zapaudio in conversation with Yamaha
Fig. 4: Frédéric Walder from Zapaudio
Mr Walder was kind enough to invite us to Geneva to give us a backstage glimpse of the fabulous concert hall and to talk to us about the fascinating way in which the DME24N is being used here. First of all, however, Mr Walder, revealed to us the reason why he chose this Yamaha product:
"For us it was a natural choice to opt for a DME24N because for many years we have had a good working relationship with Yamaha. Yamaha's products are extremely reliable and the support provided is first-class. However, there are lots of other reasons too for choosing a Yamaha DSP Engine. In the case of Victoria Hall, we wanted to create a set-up that was completely reliable, entirely digital and as discreet as possible, without any unnecessary conversions which could impair the sound. Thanks to the switchable digital matrix in the DME24N, we quickly arrived at our goal", adds Mr Walder.
"Using an AuviTran expansion card, the DME24N has EtherSound capability", he goes on to explain. "This is extremely practical, because the building has EtherNet cabling and even Nexo's controllers are fitted with EtherSound expansion cards. Any user of the hall, e.g. a concert organiser, can select either an analogue or digital connection via EtherSound between the mixing desk and the hall's internal PA system."
If a digital connection is selected, it is very easy to feed the signal into the internal PA system using a single patch cable from an EtherSound-compatible mixing desk via the DME matrix and the Nexo digital processors, without loss. Thus, thanks to DME and EtherSound, Victoria Hall is now at the cutting edge of signal transmission technology. Thankfully, huge, unsightly and unreliable multicore cables are not necessary.
Yet there are even more reasons why the decision was made in favour of a DME. Audio specialist Mr Walder, whose goal during installation work was to retain the unique atmosphere of Victoria Hall, has yet more reasons for choosing a DME:
"Of course, in such a large space as Victoria Hall, we couldn't install massive speaker boxes. But because jazz and world music concerts also take place on the stage, we achieved a blanket amplification effect using multiple delay lines. The small Nexo-PS speakers in the galleries and to the rear of the hall are height-adjusted and delayed in such a way that the sound still seems to come from the front - and of course, there are no intrusive echo effects. The sound is therefore at the right volume throughout the hall and despite the hall's long reverberation time of 3.5 seconds (RT60), is still well-defined. And with only a few clicks of the mouse, the necessary digital delays can be inserted in the signal path before the outputs, thanks to the easy-to-use DME Designer software."
Fig. 5: Zapaudio's showroom
However, the main benefit of the DME is its 'save' functions: "We pre-programmed different presets in the signal route, including the relevant compressor, equalizer and delay settings", explains Mr Walder. "The concert hall staff now only need to select the corresponding preset. For example, they can select 'Speech' when auctions are held, or 'Concert' when jazz events are held. Every press of a button has the effect of changing virtually all the settings of the entire system, including all routing and processor parameters. A technical engineer is not needed to operate the DME system and not even the overall sound system – all that is required is a simple press of a button." Inbuilt security features also ensure that non-technical staff cannot inadvertently change the settings.
Our tongue-in-cheek question, whether we had covered everything, otherwise the article would be too long was laughingly answered in the negative by Mr Walder: "No, I'm sorry, the DME still has other features. The DME has an internal signal generator that I would like to talk about. It can be routed via the matrix to all ports. Thus, it is possible to test the signal paths throughout the entire system in no time at all. It's very practical!"
We are grateful to Mr Walder from Zapaudio for this interesting and highly informative interview.
Fig. 6: With one press of a button, the system is ready! The DME24N in the rack of the Victoria Hall.
Dealer Profile
Zap Audio was established in 1977 and has headquarters in Geneva and Winterthur.
The company is one of the most important Yamaha dealers in Switzerland and furthermore it exclusively sells numerous top-brands like Nexo, Auvitran and Camco.
ZAP Audio has made a very good name for itself as a service company for the distribution and installation of sound systems and additionally high quality Flight Cases have been manufactured in the Geneva headquarters for many years.
The company attaches the highest importance to its professional support and accurate service throughout all its activities.
These high quality services are carried out by qualified staff who all have great experience in the pro audio area at their disposal.
