Finland – One of Finland’s finest concert venues, Sibelius Hall in the city of Lahti has upgraded its sound with a d&b audiotechnik system, combining the proven cardioid performance of the SL-Series with the control and efficiency of the new U-Series. An architecturally and acoustically demanding venue, it has successfully achieved a balance of fixed-install reliability with touring-style flexibility, all with the exceptional aural quality of d&b.
Home to the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, the 1,250-seat Sibelius Hall was completed in 2000 and is renowned for its acoustics. With several hundred events each year it offers a predominantly classical programme plus contemporary artists, amplified music, speech events and other multipurpose productions.
With the previous, ageing sound system struggling to deliver consistent tonal quality, the team began considering an up-to-date replacement. “It’s a great hall for classical music,” says technical producer, Jukka-Pekka Nissinen, “but for other content – pop and rock with the symphony orchestra, for example – we needed a system with real range.”
The hall’s sound needs addressed coverage consistency, tonal balance and stage spill. Technical manager Jukka Kaunisto elaborates: “Our main hall is very reverberant and bowl‑shaped at the back, so we have to deal with a lot of reflections and energy build‑up on stage.”
While cardioid behaviour was attractive, there were other considerations. Kaunisto continues: “It was essential to provide the kind of production-ready solution expected of an international-level concert hall, as well as the flexibility to allow for mobile deployment and at a reasonable cost. Also, important – looking ahead – was long-term serviceability and support.”
The sound team was already familiar with d&b, owning various products elsewhere in the venue, so when it came to the new main house system, d&b would be among the contenders. Once various systems had been auditioned, the cardioid functionality and other features tipped the scales toward d&b. “Reputation, reliability, service and especially the software were big factors,” says Nissinen. “Our staff already knows how to work with d&b, so that was a plus. Compared with some other brands, d&b’s software is more intuitive for us, and we already knew the ecosystem.”
He adds: “If you draw a Venn diagram of price, performance and size, XSL sits nicely in the middle. For this venue and budget, it’s a very good fit.”
Another good fit was the arrival of d&b’s new U-Series point sources. “The demo of the U3 only lasted about 15 minutes,” recalls Nissinen, “and we were convinced.”
Using ArrayProcessing, the system design successfully addresses the hall’s complex seating geometry. Installed by system integrator Oulun Kongressitekniikka Oy, it comprises a main left/right system of XSL8 and XSL-SUBs, with further LF support from two SL-SUBs down on the stage front. The U3 front-fill system is tonally matched to the main arrays, while additional U3s also serve as balcony delays and fills, along with Y7P and Y10P point sources. Touring racks and carts allow for easy relocation of loudspeakers and amplifiers as needed.
“The system has been designed so that it can live in the main hall most of the time, but it’s straightforward to take parts of it to the lobby or the congress centre,” says Nissinen. “That mobility was a deliberate requirement.”
The result gives Sibelius Hall a far more controlled onstage environment, which translates to a cleaner, more clearly defined sound for the audience. It can now enjoy broad dynamic range and headroom needed for amplified music, while retaining the clarity and natural sound expected for speech and orchestral applications.
