The 23rd Openlucht (Open Air) Film Festival in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
presented seven nights of blockbuster movies with 3.1 cinema sound provided by a
Meyer Sound LEOPARD™ linear sound reinforcement system. Recently acquired by
Aukes Theatertechniek of Amsterdam, the LEOPARD system delivered power and
clarity for nightly audiences of 1,500 in a secluded forest meadow outside the city.

“I immediately heard the difference in sound quality from last year,’ says Jelle
Bleijenberg of CineMec, the cinema operator that provided the feature films for the
festival. “With LEOPARD, the sound was far more direct, and with a good stereo
image throughout the audience.’

Mark Oppedijk of Aukes agrees that LEOPARD was a huge improvement for the
festival. “This is one of our largest audio projects on a continuing basis, and
LEOPARD performed far better than the point-source system we had previously
used,’ he says. “What stood out most for me was the crisp intelligibility, which
made it easier for the audience to hear the actors, even when whispering softly.’

Covering an audience area 40 meters wide by 60 meters deep were full-range left,
center, and right channels of four LEOPARD line array loudspeakers each, supported
by an under-screen array of six 900-LFC low-frequency control elements. A
Galileo® loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 616 processor provided
system drive and alignment. CineMec provided the festival’s giant projection screen
and 35K ANSI lumens projector.

“The 900-LFCs have such great punch for a compact box,’ notes Oppedijk. “With the
subwoofers we had used before we would sometimes get only a muffled rumbling
for low-frequency effects. But with the 900-LFCs, the low transients are clearly
defined. It’s obviously a faster loudspeaker.

“We previously needed a lot more boxes to get the same sound level in the back
with a point source system,’ continues Oppedijk. “We also used to build fully
enclosed towers for the amp racks and processors, as rain is not uncommon. But
our fully weatherproofed LEOPARD system sat out in the open this year. This saved
even more truck space, along with three or four hours of build time.’

Serving clients throughout Europe, Aukes Theatertechniek is a broad-based supplier
of staging, lighting, and audio technology services for the performing arts and
corporate events.

Sponsored by Accres Apeldoorn BV, the 2015 Openlucht Film Festival featured
screenings of “Interstellar,’ “Furious 7,’ “The Imitation Game,’ and more.