Plovdiv Drama Theatre, Bulgaria Case Study

Walpole, MA, USA, June 17, 2024 — The multi-stage Plovdiv Drama Theatre, founded in 1881, is Bulgaria's first professional theatre and a leading cultural institution. The venue’s wireless microphone systems were prone to dropouts while a hefty production schedule, which rotates more than 20 titles monthly, demands bullet-proof microphone performance. The organization turned to Sofia, Bulgaria-based Stage Customs, the integration arm of Studio Balkandji, who recommended upgrading the current system and installing antennas and RF and receiver power distribution from RF Venue, a global leader in essential RF accessories for wireless audio. “The Plovdiv Drama Theatre,” said Kiril Yanev, Chief Engineer at Stage Customs, “had wireless problems throughout the facility, including their main stage, for several years. The RF Venue gear allowed us to completely solve their wireless problems and still employ some of their original equipment so we were not starting from scratch.”

Yanev, who spearheads installations in audio, video and multimedia for Stage Customs, is himself a musician, recording and live sound engineer, as well as a sound engineering and acoustics teacher at the New Bulgarian University. Drawing upon his background and a master’s degree in physics (wireless communications), he has led the implementation of wireless systems for the State Opera Plovdiv, State Opera Russe, Blagoevgrad Theatre and others. The issues at the Plovdiv Drama Theatre, he says, were “attributed to the size of the stage that needed coverage and the larger number of microphones being employed during performances. Also, they needed a system that they can take off the stage and put on tour when needed.”

The theatre’s system is composed of Sennheiser ew 100 G3 wireless systems with Sennheiser MKE 2 sub-miniature omni-directional lavaliers. A total of 34 wireless microphones with pocket/beltpack transmitters are being employed for either the main hall or split into several smaller systems for the smaller halls or events outside the theatre.

“Initially when they called us in to evaluate exactly what was going on, they were thinking about changing the whole microphone system, but after our review, we found numerous problems like signals not being properly distributed, the system was not properly tuned, there were cabling and antenna booster issues and some of the channels were without antenna distribution, relying on their own whip antennas to cover the area.” Yanev’s solution: instead of replacing the system, augment it with key components from RF Venue – patented, cross-polarized Diversity Fin antennas and DISTRO9 HDR RF and DC power distribution systems.

“We built a system using three units of RV Venue’s DISTRO9 splitters, two units of their Diversity Fin antennas and three pieces of the existing four-channel Sennheiser antenna splitters,” Yanev elaborates. “We also used some of the theatre’s existing log-periodic Sennheiser antennas. The equipment is divided into four racks with the ability to daisy chain the racks (using the ninth output of the DISTRO9). The main idea of the system was to be flexible, so we placed antennas on stage with fixed cabling, but also reserved one Diversity Fin antenna for touring purposes. In this way, they have several possible scenarios that include a 34-channel main system in the hall, a 34-channel system for touring, and several smaller systems with antenna inputs on the front of the rack that can be combined just by daisy-chaining the racks with two cables. Plus, the system does not now need any antenna boosters.”

“The theatre sound engineers were quite happy,” Yanev shared. “They were used to fighting every day with wireless problems, but now their lives are much easier. The management of the theatre is happy too – before, they had a bunch of antennas, cabling and single devices that worked intermittently. Now they have four racks with seamless connectivity and no problems.”

“From our perspective,” concludes Yanev, “RF Venue products are of the finest quality, very easy to install and configure, which means less time in the field for installation and we are happy with the price/quality ratio. And just as important, communications and support from the people at RF Venue is great and their online tools are quite handy. We are putting more RF Venue products in our future installations.” Studio Balkandji / Stage Customs has also now become not only an RF Venue customer, but a dealer for the line of wireless audio essentials.