Norway is the first European country with permanent installations of the compact Meyer Sound LEOPARD linear sound reinforcement system. LEOPARD's remarkable flexibility and versatility made it the top choice for two very different venues. The 1,200-seat Grand Hall at Studentersamfundet (Student Society) in Trondheim uses LEOPARD to support community events such as theatrical performances and conferences, while the LEOPARD system at Oslo's 650-capacity Vulkan Arena primarily powers hard rock shows.
"When we first saw LEOPARD we were amazed by its size," reports Torgeir Aadland, project consultant for audio renovations at the Grand Hall. "It was easily one of the smallest in its class, and we had some concern about it performing to our standards. But LEOPARD has provided excellent sound quality even at the highest levels, and gives us even horizontal coverage—it's everything we were looking for in a new system."
The circular Grand Hall is a central meeting place for the Student Society, an independent organization of around 1,700 Trondheim students. It is used for concerts, cabaret theatre, student conferences, and other community events.
"After installation, the hall hosted the UKA festival featuring concerts, revues, and standup comedy, giving the system an intensive test across different genres," says Aadland. "The sound quality was definitely improved from past years for every event, giving the audience a much more satisfying experience."
At the Vulkan Arena, the new LEOPARD system has already supported a number of heavy rock shows such as The Weeknd, Y&T, Acid Mothers Temple, and Wire. "LEOPARD may look small, but it packs one helluva punch," says Bjørn Hinkel, technical manager for the venue. "The comments I've gotten from band techs are pretty much the same every time. They see the PA and think it's too small. Then at the end of the night, I get hugs and praises from all of them. It's a genuine pleasure to have LEOPARD in my venue."
Vulkan Arena's system comprises twin flown arrays of four LEOPARD linear array loudspeakers and two 900-LFC low-frequency control elements each, two UPJ-1P loudspeakers for front fill, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 408 processor for optimization and signal distribution.
Installed at the Grand Hall are twin arrays of six LEOPARD loudspeakers each, six 900-LFC elements, two UPQ-1P loudspeakers for front fill, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 616 processor.
Both systems were provided and installed by Oslo-based Bright Norway AS, with project supervision by Trond Kristoffersen and on-site assistance at Vulkan Arena from Bright's Stian Smith and Fredrik Frostad.
