Municipal Theater Schaffhausen (Switzerland)

The Stadttheater Schaffhausen is a traditional guest theater on Herrenacker, in the heart of the old town. Its roots date back to 1867; the current theater building was inaugurated in 1956. Each season, the theater presents a wide-ranging program—from drama and musical theater to dance and formats for children and families—with around 80 performances per year.

To ensure that this diversity is also acoustically convincing at all times, the sound system needed to be renewed: speech and music should be reproduced equally well – and evenly across all three levels, without dominating the architecture. The niches to the left and right of the portal proved to be the ideal installation location. Here, the system can be integrated inconspicuously and at the same time aligned so that the stalls and galleries are specifically covered. The main system is based on an active beam steering system from the Fohhn Focus Modular series: each side uses a configuration consisting of a DFM-400 fundamental tone module and DFM-100 high-frequency modules – one DFM-100 for the lower audience area and another DFM-100 for targeted coverage of the galleries. Beam steering technology allows the radiation to be precisely adapted to the room geometry: energy is directed where it is needed, while unwanted reflections from walls, ceilings, or balustrades are reduced. This ensures high speech intelligibility and even level distribution – even in rooms with complex architecture.

The flexibility of operation is particularly valuable for everyday theater use: depending on the production, auditorium layout, and focus on speech and/or music, different presets are available that allow the beam steering settings and target areas to be quickly adjusted. At the same time, the new system could be seamlessly integrated into the existing infrastructure via Dante—including audio transmission and convenient system integration.

Six LXP-10s were also provided as nearfills for precise coverage in the front audience area. Thanks to their special design, these speakers can be installed quickly and easily as needed—ideal for changing requirements in guest performances without placing permanently visible technology in the foreground.