Estonia’s Kanuti Gildi SAAL Performing Arts Centre Upgrades With EAW

Kanuti Gildi SAAL, located in Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn, opened its doors in 2002 as the first independent production house and performance arts centre in the country. The theater recently upgraded with an Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) sound reinforcement system designed and installed by locally-owned rental and installation company Heliart OÜ.

The 150-seat theater hosts residency programs for Estonian and Nordic artists, co-produces 4-6 local and international productions during each season and is the organizer of the oldest international performing arts festival in Tallinn. The trapezoidal-shaped room features brick walls and graded, 15-degree, seating.

“We were limited both physically and aesthetically as to where we could install the main PA, and we needed a system with excellent horizontal and vertical pattern control,” explains Priit Kivimagi, Heliart OÜ. “The brick walls made it imperative to keep the reflections off the walls and ceilings. At the same time subwoofers had to be mobile to meet the needs of different acts. The Kanuti Gildi SAAL is responsible for the largest theatre festivals in Estonia making minimum setup time of the sound system essential. EAW products provided the perfect solution.”

The main PA consists of two QX364 loudspeakers flown left-right in a fixed position, hung from the ceiling with custom chains. The system is supplemented by two Redline RL18S subwoofers. The subwoofers are mainly used left-right, but can be easily configured to a center mono cardioid array using the built-in cardioid feature of the Redline subs.

The compact, double-trapezoidal enclosure of the QX364 features an ultra-efficient and unique high compression driver with a 60° x 45° constant directivity horn. Four Phase Aligned™ 10-in low frequency transducers arranged as vertical and horizontal pairs leverage beneficial interaction based on their spacing to extend pattern control. EAW Greybox and Focusing provides exceptional fidelity resulting in a system that keeps energy on the audience, and away from the walls providing the clarity the venue requires.

Kivimagi adds, “The system DSP is EAW UX8800 which provides wireless monitoring/remote control for the house engineer. It also feeds signal for a distributed system when necessary. The most important results from the upgrade is enormous improvement in the sound quality and even coverage in the room.”

With front-of-house located at the rear of the seating area, the FOH engineer now hears exactly what the VIP in the first row does.

“The EAW system is a tremendous upgrade from the old in overall sound quality, intelligibility and coverage,” adds house engineer Revo Koplus. “We host plenty of acts that have several guest engineers working with the system. The house EQ needs minimal or no adjustments to fit the taste of the most demanding guest engineers.”