Overview

 

In Rozzano — a town in the Milan hinterland, the town council’s department for juvenile policies has entrusted Sunrise Cooperative with the management of Spazio Aurora, a multi-function venue where local youngsters can expand their social and cultural life by means of courses, social projects, and other events such as shows, dance nights, and quality concerts at very reasonable prices.

In addition to a school of music with a wide variety of courses, there are also three rehearsal rooms with professional instruments and an audio recording studio, complete with control room.

The main room has a 32 x 16 ft. stage that hosts concerts and performances of all kinds, with groups (cover pop bands, punk and hard rock line-ups) swing bands and DJ-sets, but also weekly shows with comedians, cabaret artists, and entertainment for kids of all ages including puppet shows, games, and clowns.

The sound reinforcement system chosen to meet the needs of this widely varied calendar consists of Yamaha Installation Series loudspeakers and Yamaha power amplifiers and audio processors, all installed by Audio Progetti Srl.

Location:

Rozzano 

Web site:

http://www.spazioaurora.net/ 

Installed Products

Processors:

SP2060

Power Amplifiers:

XP7000, XP5000, XP3500

Speakers:

IF2208, IF2115, IS1215

Details

An Impressive Demo Closes the Deal

Stefano Papetti

Founded recently by a group of professionals with years of experience in various sectors of the pro audio world, Audio Progetti is based in Cavenago Brianza near Milan, and specializes in system design, sales, and installation. Stefano Papetti, the firm’s technical sales manager and managing director, explained: "As a company, we are firm believers in product demos as the most effective sales tool, and the system installed at Spazio Aurora was chosen following a demo we staged there with loudspeaker enclosures from Yamaha’s Installation series, during which the venue’s technicians were extremely impressed by the rig’s sound pressure and reproduction quality, even though we only used a limited number of power amplifiers."

Papetti, who has considerable experience in designing systems for recording studios, theaters, and various other types of installations, continued: “The very first time I heard the Installation Series enclosures, I was also favorably impressed — mainly for their sound pressure, but also for the acoustic quality they’re able to provide at all volumes."

The System

IF2115/64

The two Installation Series IF2115/64 full-range enclosures used in "Biamp + Sub" mode as the main system at Spazio Aurora are multi-function high-powered systems fitted with 15" woofers. Dispersion can be controlled via the systems’ rotatable horn, which enables them to be easily installed horizontally or vertically, ensuring utmost adaptability when space considerations dictate speaker orientation.

The IF2115 units are used along with a pair of Installation Series IS1215 subwoofers with twin 15" speakers, the ideal combination for maximum power and optimum reproduction over the entire audio spectrum in a full-range system. Two Installation Series IF2208 speakers, compact two-way systems with twin 8" woofers, are installed on the opposite side of the room. Here too, the fact that the horn was rotatable enabled the enclosures to be positioned exactly as required. The numerous groups and other acts alternating on stage also have four Club Series CM12V monitors at their disposal.

Under the stage, the rack of units powering and controlling the system included three different models from Yamaha’s XP series of power amplifiers: an XP3500 for the horns of the IF2115/64 enclosures and an XP7000 for their woofers, an XP5000 for the subwoofers, an XP3500 for the systems mounted opposite the stage, and another two of the same model powering the stage monitors. The system’s signal processing and distribution is handled by a Yamaha SP2060 Speaker Processor, optimized for precise control of the Installation Series loudspeakers used in the venue. The loudspeakers’ data are preset in the SP2060, enabling the necessary settings to be carried out in a few simple steps for user-friendly system management and control.

The processor’s exclusive LSI technology guarantees exceptional sound quality as well as a phenomenal dynamic range and a signal/noise ratio of over 110 dB. Among its numerous built-in functions, gain, delay, parametric equalization, compression, crossover, and limiter all play essential roles for loudspeaker management. The All-pass filter also allows very precise control of just the phase, without changing the gain.

Papetti continued, "The system was set for three-way use, and the processor is used as a crossover, limiter, and compressor for the full-range enclosures, making the set-up extremely flexible. For the power amplifiers we opted for the XP series, which are excellent units that run very quietly, and the system was designed using Yamaha’s Y-S3 Sound System Simulator software."

Presets and Power for All Occasions

IF2208

In addition to running his recording studio, located on the first floor at Spazio Aurora, Lorenzo Catinella is also in charge of the audio setup in the room with the Yamaha PA. He confirms: "For the various outputs, I created and stored a series of presets — we’ve got a preset for DJ sets, a ‘Live’ preset with more punch on the bottom end, another that has a bit more compression, and one with a compression threshold that reacts to low input signals but ensures we have precise powerful sound even on nights when we don’t have a large crowd in the room but need a good compromise between the mixer’s output and the processor’s capacity to exploit the system’s horns and woofers."

Catinella confirmed that the system was definitely up to the task of handling the numerous different events staged in the venue: "The amps are excellent, with good balance, and the range is smooth in the mid/high and high frequencies which gives a nice warm sound. The loudspeakers have a three-way crossover set-up with amps dedicated to each section. In fact, the full-range enclosures perform so well I had to gradually reduce their power to obtain a more balanced overall sound — something that doesn’t happen every day with other brands on the market. We chose a rather unusual layout for the installation, with the two IF2208 units mounted opposite the front-of-house loudspeakers, to enable us to have more volume on the microphones. The problem of enabling the vocals to be heard over the instruments without running into feedback is always an absolute priority in all types of live music situations."

Bands Also Enthusiastic

Bands performing at the venue have also been enthusiastic about the results achieved, as Catinella explained: "We’ve had some nights with seven groups performing over four hours, each playing a different genre, and at the end they congratulated us and thanked us for the great sound in the room. The ideal combination of precision, power and response."

Papetti concluded, "After this installation, Spazio Aurora asked us to design another system for the venue’s bar zone, which will be used for background music, and we’ve also used Yamaha Installation Series loudspeakers in other very different locations — from space at the Venice Biennale to a ‘wellness’ center in southern Italy."

System Designer/Integrator/Supplier

Audio Progetti Srl

Country

Italy

Web site

http://www.audioprogetti.com

To Reference List