Shenzhen Grand Theatre opts for iLive console

Published: July 15, 2010 ASIA

CHINA: A major audiovisual refit of one of China’s eight most famous cultural facilities has seen an Allen & Heath iLive iDR 64 MixRack and 176 Control Surface installed into the Shenzhen Grand Theatre. The console was supplied by regional Allen & Heath distributor Sanecore Group.

Described as ‘multifunctional, modern and comprehensive’, the Shenzhen Grand Theatre is famous within China as one of the country’s most treasured cultural venues. Having initially been built with a Government investment of almost RMB100 million in 1984, it has hosted a wealth of famous performances over its two and a half decades of operation, with more than 2,000,000 spectators from outside China having visited, and state visits from dignitaries including Jiang Zemin, Wu Bangguo, Li Changchun, Li Peng, Qiao Shi, Wang Guangying.

The theatre has undergone three major refits over its lifetime, first in 1999, then 2004 and more recently in 2009, though most recently the decision was taken to replace the venue’s original analogue console with a digital board. An iLive 176 Control Surface has now been installed in the theatre alongside two iDR 64 MixRacks. One of the MixRacks – containing 48 analogue inputs – is housed in the equipment room at the side of the stage, while the other can be found in the audio control room alongside the control surface, with 32 analogue inputs for wireless microphones, outboard gear and a CD player. Twenty-four analogue outputs were connected to the digital speaker processor as system outputs.

Allen & Heath’s proprietary ACE (Audio Control Ethernet) link has also been provided to link the racks to the control surface, allowing point to point control and audio communication over three Cat5 cables, while a PC with iLive Editor software was also installed as a backup.