L-Acoustics Soka takes sound on the move in Beijing
L-Acoustics Soka takes sound on the move in Beijing
A 3.5km journey along Beijing’s Grand Canal is doubling as a moving performance space, with a compact L-Acoustics system providing sound reinforcement aboard the panoramic cruise boat used for Yun Shang Xing.
The Yun Shang Xing Grand Canal Waterscape Poetry and Music Experience, created by cultural tourism entity Tongzhou on the Canal, takes audiences on a roughly 50-minute journey through six linked sequences, with performances staged on the water, smaller boats, bridges and along both banks. The production features celebrated Chinese artist Han Meilin as general advisor and cross-disciplinary artist Liu Zhouming as chief director and screenwriter.
The show explores the history of the Grand Canal, from the commerce of the caoyun era to the daily lives of canal communities, alongside music, dance and poetry. Organisers describe it as Beijing’s first 360° waterborne performance of its kind.
For the audio system, L-Acoustics distributor Racpro had to contend with a moving audience, extensive glass surfaces and the additional acoustic variables created by waves against the hull. The system also needed to remain discreet within the boat’s design-led interior.
Racpro deployed four of the brand’s Soka colinear systems as the main front and rear reinforcement, positioning the slim cabinets flush with the boat’s window frames. The system’s directivity was used to focus sound on the listening areas while reducing reflections from the glass.
“The hardest part was making a full-range system effectively disappear,” noted Li Teng, assistant project manager of Racpro. “In a moving cabin wrapped in glass, every reflection works against you. Getting even, enveloping coverage from a handful of cabinets that the audience never notices is exactly the result we were after.”
Low-frequency reproduction was modelled in the French manufacturer’s Soundvision software across multiple frequency bands before installation. Racpro then brought demo units aboard to compare the predicted response with onsite measurements. This led to two SB10i subwoofers being positioned closer to the centre of the cabin, avoiding the hull resonance that corner placement could have created. The complete system comprises four Soka, two SB10i and two LA2Xi amplified controllers, covering the cabin’s seating area.
Yun Shang Xing is planned as a long-term fixture of Tongzhou and the wider Grand Canal Cultural Belt, connecting to a 1.3km waterfront commercial district and intended to support future cultural exchange and events.
