DENVER — Akustiks specified an L-Acoustics audio system for the 2,634- seat Boettcher Concert Hall at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. The system centers on ARCS II and KIVA enclosures for the venue’s in-the-round layout. AVDB Group supplied the system, which was installed by Steve Kuberski and Mark Herron at Mood Media (formerly known as Muzak). When it opened in 1978, the venue was among the first U.S. symphony halls to feature in the round seating. While the layout still strikes visitors as contemporary, the venue’s previous PA system had not fared as well. In the new setup, the primary PA is comprised of four horizontal arrays of ARCS II — a cluster of six constant curvature cabinets pointing toward the main orchestra seating section, two four-cabinet arrays firing into the left and right mezzanines, and a smaller three-enclosure array covering the rear parquet section. Three additional ARCS II — each individually hung in a horizontal orientation — serve as upper front-fills and address the upper ring and rear mezzanine seats. Four double-stacked KIVA clusters are also positioned overhead to supplement coverage to some of the upper seating and other areas. Down below, up to eight additional KIVA can be positioned on the stage lip as needed for front-fill, while low frequency reinforcement in the space is achieved via four SB15m subs arranged in a cardioid configuration. System power, processing, networking and control are accomplished through a combination of six LA8 and two LA4 amplified controllers. “Boettcher is an asymmetrical surround concert hall, so it’s an extremely challenging environment to put a sound reinforcement system into. But ARCS II’s tightly controlled coverage pattern very nicely allowed us to place sound exactly where we wanted it and keep it of of the surfaces that we didn’t,” said Akustiks partner Anthony Nittoli. Over the past couple of years, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra has increasingly peppered its show roster with soloists and guest acts as diverse as Trey Anastasio, Béla Fleck, Guster, DeVotchKa, Kip Winger, Pink Martini, and Rodrigo Y Gabriela. “Not only is this system perfectly capable of handling rock and roll, but it’s also well-suited to reinforce higher dynamically demanding classical performances without adding coloration to the acoustic instruments,” he says. “That, in my opinion, represents a far greater challenge, and one that it carries out remarkably well,” said Aric Christensen, Boettcher Concert Hall’s head of audio.