Backnang, Germany (November 4, 2026) – London’s Royal Albert Hall has continued its commitment to d&b audiotechnik, upgrading its house sound system with a new cardioid solution based around d&b’s KSL, XSL and CCL elements. This latest system, with its extraordinary directivity control, delivers the highest standard of listening experience yet enjoyed at this historic, landmark venue, ensuring peak performance for generations to come.
Conquering the Room
The RAH’s commitment to d&b began in 2018, when the 5,270-capacity venue underwent a hugely successful sound upgrade, introducing a distributed system of over 400 d&b loudspeakers. Designed by d&b with input from acoustic consultancy Sandy Brown, the system expanded the sound quality and service on offer to visiting productions, with take-up of the house system increasing to nearly every incoming show.
It addressed the RAH’s acoustic challenges as never before, significantly improving its operational landscape. Before, it had no full-time sound personnel, but since the house sound team has grown to eight full-time staff, with access to around 30 freelance crew as needed.
The Cardioid Revolution
In the same period, d&b’s technology has continued to advance. Its systems’ cardioid performance, embodied by SL-Series and more recently CCL, now offers a far more controlled sound environment, benefiting audiences, artists and engineers alike.
“The distributed system of 2018 was remarkable – way better than anything we’d had before,” comments RAH’s Audio Operations Manager, Richard Sally-Lower. “The new system improves even further on that. We’ve not redesigned anything, it’s mostly like-for-like, but with newer technology. Yes, there are some extra elements – we’ve gone a little bit bigger to cater for the larger shows – but the key improvement is the cardioid aspect.”
Steve Jones, Team Leader of d&b’s Education and Application Support EMEA, who led both the 2018 and 2026 projects, says, “With the distributed system design, the impact of ArrayProcessing providing that evenness of coverage everywhere, and now with the added cardioid advantage, pretty much all of the energy in that room is pointing at the audience members, and being absorbed by them. There is very little sound going anywhere else.”
KSL, XSL and CCL
The chosen d&b concept – as required by the brief for this protected building – retained most of the 2018 positions and infrastructure, adding new equipment only where it improved coverage and capability.
The new installation draws on more than 140 new loudspeaker elements. The main left and right hangs, twelve deep, are KSL, while XSL arrays are used for outfills and choir positions, as well as for two entirely new central hangs for Soundscape use. To increase capability, additional low end is provided via a reconfigured central hang of SL-SUBs and new XSL-SUBs on the ground.
CCL arrays serve as circle delays, while 42S speakers have been added as discreet front-fills, particularly for orchestral shows, replacing the 16C column speakers employed previously. Meanwhile, the boxes and gallery speakers remained largely unchanged – with 4S speakers adding delays and a degree of ‘depth’. The left, centre, right system and Soundscape hangs are driven via d&b 40D installation amplifiers. D90 amps power the flown subwoofers, and the remainder of the system runs on the existing infrastructure of D80, 30D, 10D and 5D amps.
Likening the improvement to the time he first heard d&b ArrayProcessing in action, Jones says, “It’s one of those moments where, once you hear it, you never want to go back to the old way.”
The Expansion of d&b Soundscape
The d&b Soundscape capability introduced in 2018, to allow an additional creative offering for incoming productions if required, has also been enhanced with the addition of the permanent XSL hangs for Soundscape, and expansion from two DS100 processors to three DS110 units (including one for redundancy), increasing the available output capacity, and therefore system resolution.
“We’re finding that touring productions are increasingly asking for Soundscape,” Sally-Lower explains, “but we also use it for our own productions, for example our seasonal run of shows in December. We also see value in using it proactively to enhance the service we offer clients – even when it’s not a specific client request.”
A Big Step Forward
The new system marks a milestone for the sound of this challenging room. Importantly, as well as being effective right now, it lays the ground for the future progression – maximising both the hall’s reputation and its investment.
Sally-Lower concludes, “This system is a massive benefit for such a reverberant space, and another really important step forward in improving the sound of the hall. And that improvement is across the whole system – not just a small part of it.”
About d&b audiotechnik.
d&b audiotechnik provides professional audio technology and solutions to accurately transfer passions through high-end quality speech and music reproduction. d&b audiotechnik is internationally regarded as a leading company for sound reinforcement systems in installed and mobile applications, with a reputation for quality of construction, standard of service, system integration principles, and pioneering technological development.
Founded in Germany in 1981, d&b audiotechnik headquarters are located in Backnang, near Stuttgart, where research, development and production take place. With sales offices in major cities around the world, the d&b audiotechnik team numbers more than 800 co-workers. www.dbaudio.com.
