Seoul’s Gugak Center upgrades decade old Meyer system
Published: ASIA
KOREA: Sovico has undertaken an upgrade of the decade-old Meyer Sound system installed within Seoul’s National Gugak Center, adding M’elodie line arrays into the institute’s 800-seat Yeak-Dang Theatre. The previous design – comprising UPM-1P, CQ-1, and CQ-2 enclosures – has been reconfigured to work alongside the new solution.
Founded in 1950, the National Gugak Center has roots dating back to the Eumseongseo music institute of seventh-century Korea. It is internationally recognised for its work in preserving Korean traditional music.
Despite the Center’s history with Meyer Sound, however, the choice of M’elodie still reportedly followed a period of evaluation, with Sovico’s Ungseop Kwon declaring that ‘when it comes to government spending, it’s not always easy to specify a particular brand. The committee members listened critically to several loudspeakers and all agreed that the M’elodie was the best system for the hall. With a Meyer Sound system in place for more than 10 years, it was not unexpected that they would be pleased with M’elodie, but the system’s performance has exceeded expectations, and everyone is quite pleased.’
The theatre now boasts a left-right system comprising 12 M’elodie elements per-side with four 600-HP subwoofers for low-end extension. Meanwhile, the older enclosures have been redeployed, with one UPA-1P, two CQ-1, and two CQ-2 enclosures comprising a centre-cluster for voice announcements, and single CQ-1 boxes positioned at the left and right. Finally, 10 UPM-1P speakers cover front-fill and delays throughout the auditorium.
‘The theatre’s acoustics are challenging,’ continued Mr Kwon. ‘M’elodie provides an ideal solution, with very even coverage. Also, the previous system’s components were still in excellent condition, even after many years of constant use. Repurposing them in this way allowed us to create a true L-C-R configuration, with uniform left-right coverage for music, and a centre channel for voice.’