It is a matter of fact that the human ear brain mechanism is a highly sophisticated
system capable of identifying where sound comes from with amazing accuracy.
Using this information, with even the slightest difference in loudness, the brain can
clearly identify the change and thus locate direction. “This in essence was the
challenge presented by the requirements for a new sound system in the Turkish
Parliament building Ankara,’ explained Tayfun Konuralp of Atempo, Turkey’s leading
provider of professional audio. “With a requirement for a major improvement in
intelligibility over the previous installation made in 1996 as a given, the desire was
added for any member of the Parliament to be able to easily identify who was
speaking and from where, even during the most heated of debates.’
Konuralp heads up Atempo’s Ankara office: “We first became involved at the start
of 2013; Mr Dr Wolfgang Ahnert had already been engaged by the Parliamentary
authorities to find a solution. As the inventor of EASE software, we anticipated our
skill set would be taken to a new level by his proposals and we were not
disappointed.’
Put to open tender, Atempo presented a system using a mix of d&b audiotechnik
loudspeaker systems. “The debating chamber is a fan shaped auditorium seating
five hundred Parliamentarians with a central main platform from where the speaker
of the house manages the sessions. In essence this is a two system solution: there
is a front facing system of left/right d&b Ti10Ls so that the platform can address the
whole house. The second system is distributed, a set of ceiling clusters, using
individually amplified d&b 10S loudspeakers arranged to face downward and in a
cross formation to give 360 degree propagation. The key to this system is the
Salzbrenner Stagetec Nexus matrix system management that, through programmed
time settings, can localise sound to the region of any Parliament member who is
talking, relative to the rest of the chamber.’
Mr Yakup Bayraktar is Technical Manager of the Audio Department at the
Parliament. A former Tonmeister, he has been at the Grand Assembly seventeen
years: “The old system had been falling short of modern standards for some time;
intelligibility was so poor it could become uncomfortable and tiresome for our
members. The implementation by Atempo of Mr Dr Wolfgang Ahnert’s
recommendation was a very efficient job in terms of execution, especially
considering the severe restrictions imposed on time.’
Parliament normally goes into recess for three months across the summer but the
year of installation coincided with the presidential elections, “Which cut install time
in half to just six weeks,’ said Konuralp. “We worked almost around the clock,
assembling three teams working six to seven hour shifts.
“The Ti10L line array systems were commissioned immediately so the inauguration
of the President could take place. The more complex testing and commissioning of
the 10S based localisation system took place immediately afterwards, in the two
week gap before the official opening of Parliament. At the same time as the
localisation system was in test we initiated training sessions for the Parliament’s
own technical team under Mr Yakup Bayraktar. This is the first and only such audio
installation in a debating chamber with localisation in Turkey; in fact such systems
are pretty unique as far as we understand, there is one in the Berlin Parliament we
know, and maybe one or two others elsewhere.’
“All the problems of the old audio system have been solved,’ concluded Mr Yakup
Bayraktar. “Despite the busy schedule of the Parliament, Atempo completed the
installation of the whole system without interrupting the daily activities of the
Parliament.’
