Warsaw’s Syrena Theatre introduce new sound system

Named after the mermaid on Warsaw’s coat of arms, Teatr Syrena has been a cornerstone of Polish cultural life for nearly 80 years. Founded in Łódź in the immediate post-war years, the theatre relocated to Warsaw in 1948 and has remained one of the capital’s most vibrant musical stages.

In 2025, Teatr Syrena took a significant step forward in its technical capabilities, transitioning to an L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal installation. The project, carried out by Warsaw-based L-Acoustics Certified Provider Audio Plus, built directly on an L-Acoustics ARCS II system the company had originally installed at the theatre in 2016.

It has now been upgrading it to a full L-ISA configuration without replacing a single amplifier or retiring a single loudspeaker and completing the entire installation in under a week.

“L-ISA’s object-based mixing allows instruments and performers on stage to be positioned with far greater precision, producing a more realistic and spatially accurate experience,” explains Jakub Kowalik, tech and sales representative at Audio Plus. “At the same time, the increased number of front arrays allows overall volume levels to be reduced without any loss of impact, creating a comfortable listening experience.”

Moving to L-ISA required a minimum of five front-of-house arrays one more than the existing four ARCS configuration. For the new Scene System, Audio Plus deployed five arrays of A10i Focus paired with five A10i Wide.

A secondary challenge was the LA8 amplifier, which predates the Milan-AVB protocol used by newer L-Acoustics hardware. Rather than replacing it, Audio Plus reconfigured it to drive the four SB18i subwoofers now repositioned to hang on the sides of the central array via an AES/EBU digital signal fed from the L-ISA Processor II. Only two amplifiers were added to the system: one LA4X and one LA2Xi, alongside an LS10 network switch.

“An important characteristic of L-Acoustics hardware is that it is designed to grow with you,” says Łukasz Kaźmierczak, head of projects and installation at Audio Plus. “Using the existing infrastructure, we were able to significantly expand the theatre’s technical capabilities with relatively few additional resources. It was far more cost-effective than replacing the entire system.”

The full installation was completed in under a week. Audio Plus prepared the necessary components at their projects and installation facility in Łomianki before arriving on site, keeping disruption to the theatre’s active programme to a minimum. Tech support engineer Tomasz Schnitzer led the installation and system integration; L-Acoustics trainer Jerzy Kubiak handled post-installation tuning and crew training.

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