A central control room provides the nerve centre of the complex, housing a mobile 56-channel DiGiCo D5 FMX mixing console, connected via Madi over a fibre-optic link to the three theatres, and offering full redundancy throughout. Broadcasters also have a transmission link in this control room where between 48 and 96 audio channels can be made available to them. Linked to the D5 Live console are two 62-fader Studer Vista 8 consoles situated front-of-house in the two main theatres, together with a smaller 32-channel Vista 8 in the smallest theatre.

The Shanghai branch of Advanced Communications Equipment won the tender to design, supply and install the audio-video and lighting in all three theatres. The US$100m contract largely consists of Harman brands but there are a number of exceptions, such as the speaker system in the 1,100 -seat theatre. The 2,000-seat music hall has been curvaceously designed in white plaster and has been acoustically treated with wall reflectors. Hanging drapes from the ceiling in selected areas further absorb reverberation in hot spots. A JBL VerTec line array system has been set to the left and right of the stage and consists of two hangs of seven VT4888 enclosures and one VT4880 subwoofer. Like the 1,100-seated theatre, there are also speakers placed around the perimeter of the hall, but they have not been permanently fixed into position. ‘A total of 20 JBL AC2212 and 8 AC 2212 AE series speakers were placed in this hall,’ says ACE senior engineer Wenxue Zhang. ‘We decided to hang these from the ceiling on hoists that can be placed into position for a performance and then hoisted back up afterwards. The surround-sound effect is quite stunning and we didn’t need to create further problems by creating wall cavities. It was also important that we didn’t alter the wall features and overall aesthetics in this theatre.’

There is a magnificent organ at the rear of the stage, in which the choir can congregate in front of for performances, and the 20m-wide stage has a hanging aluminium reflector over it. This can be electronically positioned to alter the acoustics of a performance and is also the base for 56 fixed lighting points. The main control room, at time of going to press, had not taken delivery of the Vista 8 console and there was some concern about its installation, as Wenxue Zhang explains: ‘The console is too big to get into the room,’ he says. ‘We will have to figure a way of getting it in there without knocking the walls down or taking the console apart.’ This wasn’t the only problem that his team had encountered in the music hall however as he revealed another design flaw. ‘The architect hadn’t drawn in a room in the original design for the floor manager. The room that was eventually built was positioned back too far from the stage so that the floor manager is not going to be able to see the audience from where he is sitting. The original specifications should have placed the room nearer to the stage.’

The third and smallest theatre has been designed for smaller productions and single virtuoso performances, which take place on a motorised circular stage surrounded by 300 seats. A 30-fader Studer Vista 8 console is more than sufficient for the performances expected in this auditorium. For sound reinforcement, eight JBL AE2212 speakers have been hung from the truss to provide general sound reinforcement, and eight AE2212/00 speakers are fixed to the walls at regular intervals and three JBL AE2215/64 subwoofers are located in a wall recess at the rear of the stage The ACE team was initially at odds where to place the subwoofers as the circular nature of the stage makes positioning them difficult in terms of sound dispersion.

Although slightly behind schedule, the first of the three theatres formally opened on New Year’s Eve 2004, when the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra formally christened the 2,000-seat music hall before a select audience of Government ministers and politicians. It was a close-run thing as some of the audio equipment could only be installed a few weeks prior to this inflexible deadline. But the ACE team delivered, and the orchestra provided a suitable demonstration of its success.