Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw

The faculty of stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts is one of Warsaw’s best-known venues. The institute, situated on the banks of the Weichsel, has a lecture theatre with 265 seats. There is also a foyer from which visitors have a breathtaking view of sights such as the National Stadium and the Swietokrzyski Bridge – one of the reasons why, for example, banks and government agencies like to plan their events here. Accordingly, the Academy’s management decided to significantly improve the quality of the venue’s sound reinforcement. A decision was made in favour of loudspeaker systems equipped with state-of-the-art Beam Steering technology. In short: the choice came down to Fohhn Focus.

For the lecture theatre’s main PA, Dysten, Fohhn’s distribution partner for Poland, installed two active LFI-220 line source systems. The loudspeakers can be electronically controlled in real time, using software. Thanks to this technology, Dysten succeeded in achieving extremely even sound coverage. The two loudspeaker systems were mounted on specially developed brackets that are over four metres in length. As these brackets hang free from the ceiling, they also include cable channels that enable the complete connectivity of both loudspeaker systems (audio, power, Fohhn-Net and switching contacts). The channels were additionally filled with 24 kg of sand to dampen the entire construction.

Three compact, passive Arc AT-061 loudspeakers were placed on the floor to provide nearfield coverage for the first two rows of seating. For faultless reproduction in the low frequency range, an Arc AS-31 subwoofer was integrated into the ceiling – hidden behind acoustic panelling. In addition, two compact Linea LEN-60 systems were installed on each side of the stage area. These systems serve as monitor speakers and are equipped with high quality, 4” drivers with treated cones, leading to optimum efficiency for speech reproduction. Due to clever positioning of all the installed loudspeaker systems, absolute feedback stability is guaranteed over the entire stage area for any of the microphones used there.

As addition to the lecture theatre, the foyer was also equipped with Fohhn loudspeakers – six further AT-061 systems.

The entire installation in both rooms – including the loudspeakers and mixing console – can be operated via remote control and tablet. Furthermore, the whole Fohhn system can also be easily controlled using an FR-10 module with programmable buttons.

We congratulate Dysten on this successful project!