In Paris, the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) stands as a cultural landmark where architecture, history, and sound converge. Since its creation in 1987, the institution has celebrated Arab civilization through music, cinema, and academic dialogue, all within the iconic architecture designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel.
At the heart of the IMA, the Rafik Hariri Auditorium has long presented a unique acoustic challenge. Its architecture, wider than it is deep, made even sound distribution complex.
In an auditorium like ours, there was only one truly effective solution: spatialization. It was essential to connect the ear with the eye, so that what you hear can be identified with what you see. I call it the democratization of sound: every listener, wherever they sit, has access to the same acoustic experience,
explains Rainer Engel, the IMA’s Director of Technical Operations.
The Institut du Monde Arabe was among the pioneers of spatial sound in live performance in France. Guided by Engel’s vision, the IMA experimented with early spatialisation technologies when the field was still in its infancy, collaborating with Arnaut Damien, then distributor of Sonic Emotion in France, as well as the manufacturer APG to create semi-custom loudspeakers dedicated to the Auditorium.
This system embodied innovation for more than a decade, but as Sonic Emotion ceased operations and ended support for its products, the limitations of the system became increasingly apparent: weak SPL in the low end, uneven coverage, timbral inconsistencies, static ergonomics, and lack of density in the front-fill system. These shortcomings hastened the decision to renew the entire installation, opening the door to a new generation of tools capable of delivering the precision, transparency, and highly localized sound that the Auditorium demanded.
Today, the Rafik Hariri Auditorium enters a new era with a fully integrated HOLOPHONIX spatial processing system, paired with Amadeus loudspeakers and an SSL Live mixing console featuring OSC-based remote control of HOLOPHONIX, enabling seamless interaction between mixing and spatial rendering.
The installation is now built on a Dante-native infrastructure, replacing earlier hybrid setups which combined Analog and MADI-based systems. This upgrade ensures direct audio conversion, lower latency, and unmatched precision in spatialization.
All of the loudspeakers were also replaced to ensure more uniform coverage, superior timbral consistency, tighter dispersion and directivity control, an extended low-frequency response, and greater system density — all contributing to enhanced spatial accuracy and overall coherence of the sound field.
- 7 Amadeus C15 loudspeakers suspended at the stage frame, interleaved with 6 ABB 12 low-frequency reinforcements, provide flawless time and phase alignment, maximized summation, and precise co-localization across the critical 50–150 Hz band. This configuration guarantees perfect physical alignment, yielding flawless time and phase coherence, maximized summation, and precise co-localization, delivering both impact and definition across the 50–150 Hz band.
- 4 ABB 18 subwoofers on stage extend the response down to 30 Hz, delivering deep yet controlled infra-bass.
- 12 front-fill ramp modules, each with dual 4″ transducers recycled from the Théâtre National de Chaillot, ensure consistent coverage for the first rows.
This configuration enables precise sound source localization, full-bandwidth spatialization, and flawless timbral consistency across the entire listening area. Listeners perceive sound as moving naturally across the space, with no drop-offs, creating a true audiovisual correlation between what is seen and what is heard.
With HOLOPHONIX, the Rafik Hariri Auditorium now supports concerts, lectures, and film screenings that rely on spatial sound, not only solving a complex acoustic challenge but also redefining the relationship between sound, image, and architecture. Every event is enriched, offering audiences at the Institut du Monde Arabe a coherent and democratic sonic experience.
Crédits photos — Helen Karam