Slaski Theatre, Katowice (Poland)

The Slaski Theatre is a well-known landmark in the Polish city of Katowice and has been regarded as one of the region’s largest and most important theatres for over 100 years. Since its renovation, the voices of actors portraying Hamlet, Antigone and other theatrical giants have rung out in the large auditorium through Fohhn loudspeaker systems.

The installation of the new systems was subject to a number of stringent demands, with the same high-quality, even sound coverage required to reach all three levels of audience seating. Because the theatre is a listed building and the installation was being subsidised by the Ministry of Heritage, the systems also had to conform to current building regulations. Therefore, all loudspeaker mounting points required prior approval from the restoration team responsible for the renovation.

Polish installation company PowerBox installed a range of Fohhn systems including two Linea Focus LFI-120 loudspeakers with beam steering capability, two Linea LX-601 line source systems, two Arc-Series AT-35 two-way loudspeakers, four XSP-10 compact passive subwoofers, a PT-6 high-performance system with integrated line array technology, plus four Arc-Series AT-08 systems. Linea LX-100 line source loudspeakers were selected for monitoring. All loudspeaker systems were calibrated and tailored to the acoustic conditions of the auditorium using Fohhn’s FAMSA measurement system. The final results delighted everyone involved, with clear sound over the entire frequency range and no trace of distortion.

“The installation requirements seemed a little over the top to me at first, however a visit to the venue soon confirmed that this would be no ordinary installation. The project required every last bit of know-how, but our efforts more than paid off in the end. The installed systems massively exceeded our expectations, as well as those of the theatre staff. The project itself has heralded a new era of theatre installation in our region.” - Miroslaw Matusiak, PowerBox

“The new loudspeaker installation sounds more like a high end audio system than a conventional concert PA system. This level of sound quality has not been found in Polish theatres until now. For me, the actual loudspeaker setup and calibration was a really important aspect and I’m delighted it has been so successfully realised.” - Mikolaj Lichtanski, Manager of Audio Department, Slaski Theatre

Congratulations to PowerBox and to our Polish distributor Dysten on the successful implementation of this splendid project.