Phoenix from the flames
14/06/2005

When popular night venue De Rodenburg was hit by two fires within the space of four months in the second half of 2004, many Dutch clubbers assumed it would never open its doors again. But the sceptics under-estimated the determination of owner Theo van Roden and his venue manager John Bronk, who between them have run De Rodenburg through thick and thin for the past 21 years.

Earlier this month, Bronk and van Roden held an official reopening for De Rodenburg, which has been completely refurbished inside and out, with new sound, lighting and AV systems taking its entertainment infrastructure into a new era of quality and flexibility. Robert Pigeaud of Match AV, which designed and supplied the audio systems for the new-look De Rodenburg, takes up the story:

“The first fire, in July, was relatively minor, but the second, in November, was more serious – it destroyed the dome which comprises the club’s upper level, and also damaged the technical room where all the amplifiers were. It wasn’t a pretty sight!

“But even after that second fire, within a few days the club had opened at least one of its two remaining dancefloor areas, and all through the refurbishment, there has been one space or other open for business.”

De Rodenburg rented in temporary lighting and sound rigs while the refurbishment was taking place, and there has been no compromise in the specification of the new permanent system, as Pigeaud explains:

“There are three spaces in the club, each with their own style and system. The main dancefloor has four four-way active Logic System loudspeaker arrays, one flown in each corner of the room. The dispersion is very focused on the dancefloor – it was a requirement of the owners that in the bar areas, for example, serving staff could still clearly hear what customers were ordering, even when the system is playing at high SPLs.”

All the new amps at De Rodenburg are from UK manufacturer MC2 Audio, for whom Match AV is the exclusive Dutch distributor. Extensive use has been made of the company’s E-Series amps, with a pair of E15s driving the high-frequency element of the Logic System Ethos VA array modules, two pairs of E25s powering the mid stage of the modules and the low-frequency B2 enclosures which are positioned above them, and a pair of E45s driving four SB2 subwoofers which are concealed within De Rodenburg’s stage. A dbx DriveRack 480 handles the speaker processing.

“We wanted to have a system that is normally playing at only 50% of its power,” adds Pigeaud. “The club is not near to any residential areas and the DJs like to go loud – sometimes up to 128dB on the dancefloor. That’s too loud for me but it’s not too loud for the system! The E45s can drive a load as low as 3ohms and deliver 2,800 watts into it. So we have a lot of power available if necessary.”

All of MC2’s E series amps have digital power supplies with large power reservoirs to give extremely high peak power with no bass ‘sag’. Low-distortion limiters have adjustable threshold points for extra speaker protection, while a sophisticated power control system links the limiters to the power supply, keeping the amps within their operating limits at all times.

In contrast to the high-level techno beats of the main dancefloor, De Rodenburg’s second, smaller room is used mainly for 1970s, ’80s and ’90s revival nights. Sound levels are lower but Pigeaud has still specified three MC2 E15s and an E45 to drive a smaller Logic System loudspeaker setup. In the venue’s rebuilt upper dome, a requirement for background ‘chillout’ music has led to Match AV supplying two MC2 T-series installation amps to drive six further Logic Systems boxes.

Summing up, Pigeaud says: “De Rodenburg is a popular club which draws visitors from all over the Netherlands. The systems we have installed can go very loud – but they are also very controlled.”

 

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