A Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system is helping Telstra, Australia's largest telecommunications and media company, to inform and educate visitors at the company's lavish Customer Insight Centre (CIC) in Sydney. Installed in a 300-seat theatre, Constellation provides Telstra with the acoustical flexibility to hold a variety of meetings, concerts, and multimedia presentations in the same space, helping to connect customers with the company's range of cross-platform technology solutions.
"The theatre helps us to engage customers in a way that provides more impact than watching a PowerPoint presentation in a meeting room," explains David Woodbridge, general manager of the CIC. "In conjunction with our 4K LED screen, the immersive soundscapes created by Constellation allow us to adapt the space to best showcase Telstra's capabilities."
The CIC theatre has been busy with activity in the months since opening, hosting internal corporate meetings, product launches with key customers, concerts by pop groups and chamber orchestras, broadcast and webcast events, and presentations by global luminaries including Oliver Stone and Steve Wozniak.
The Constellation system is programmed to create a variety of adjustable acoustical environments that include a cathedral-like reverberation for choral concerts, a full cinema surround mode, and a crisply supportive conference mode that allows everybody in the theatre to hear and understand each other without the use of local microphones.
"On one level, Constellation does present a 'wow factor,'" reports Woodbridge. "We bring people in when Constellation is on, and they're immediately impressed by the natural acoustical environment. Then we turn it off and you can see their jaws drop. Beyond that, the system reflects well on Telstra as a technology company—our business started with sound and voice communication, and Constellation demonstrates that we're still working at the forefront of digital audio."
The CIC theatre's Constellation system uses 22 miniature microphones installed throughout the room to capture the room's acoustic and create natural acoustical environments using the D-Mitri digital audio platform's patented VRAS algorithms. The processed sound is then delivered via 22 UPM-1XP, 19 Stella-8C installation, 10 MM-4XP self-powered, and 15 HMS-5 surround loudspeakers, as well as eight UMS-1XP and two MM-10 subwoofers. Meyer Sound's Wild Tracks multichannel playback and SpaceMap multichannel panning software provides immersive effects.
The system was conceived and designed by Arup under the direction of Nathan Blum and Ben Moore. Downstream and Lend Lease were the design and executive architects, respectively.
On-stage amplified performances in the theatre rely on a Meyer Sound direct reinforcement system of four JM-1P arrayable, four UPJunior VariO, and two UPA-1P loudspeakers, in addition to one 1100-LFC low-frequency control element.
Telstra's 3,600-square-foot CIC also impresses visitors with the world's first 360-degree, interactive, ring-shaped screen; a 4K-ready broadcast studio; collaboration areas; and "hands-on" technology demonstrations.
