When the Grade II listed Royal Hall in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, saw major repairs begin in 2006, the opportunity was taken to look at installing a comprehensive induction loop system.
With Ampetronic’s unsurpassed experience in designing loop systems for architecturally sensitive buildings, the company was an obvious choice to design the system and supply the equipment.
As one of only two surviving Kursaal – or ‘Cure Halls’ – in England (the other is in Southend-on-Sea) the historic building nowadays functions as a theatre, concert hall, dance hall, conference and exhibition venue, town hall and cinema.
Stage Electrics was appointed to supply and install the specialist lighting and sound, part of the brief being the design, supply, installation and commissioning of an induction loop system covering three areas – the lower stalls, upper stalls and balcony.
Stage Electrics Technical Project Manager Nick Broad approached Ampetronic, whose James Bottrill was a key member of the team that designed and commissioned the loop system.
Driven by a combination of Ampetronic ILD500 and ILD1000G loop amplifiers, the upper stall and balcony areas were both installed with phased array systems for metal-loss control. In contrast, the stalls floor area features a polished wood floor and so a conventional perimeter loop was installed there, comprising a single strand wire running around the perimeter.
“One area of concern was how each area would interact with its neighbour,” says James Bottrill. “The use of phased array systems makes the interaction between areas controllable, but further care was needed to ensure that the two stalls systems would not interfere with each other – especially as that covering the upper stalls is at ear height for a listener seated in the lower stalls. But our low spill systems can severely limit unwanted interaction and it didn’t cause any problems.”
Final connection of the system was straightforward – a basic stereo pair to the house audio system – so this was done by Royal Hall technical staff.
“We specified Ampetronic’s equipment and expertise because the company’s loop amplifiers are the best on the market, while the design and support the company offers is of the highest level,” says Nick Broad. “From my understanding, the client is very happy with the installation.”
HRH The Prince of Wales officially reopened the Royal Hall on 22nd January 2008, with a public reopening following on 27th April, which featured an inaugural gala concert featuring the Hallé Orchestra.