From the start, this technology was about giving venues acoustic flexibility that architecture alone couldn’t provide. Twenty years later, it’s remarkable to see how many kinds of spaces have embraced it.”
John McMahonChief Operating Officer
Twenty years after the first Constellation acoustic system debuted at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, Meyer Sound is marking the milestone with the Constellation Acoustic Suite, which recognizes the system’s multiple capabilities with seven named applications drawn from two decades of real-world use in settings from concert halls to classrooms, arenas, and restaurants.
Constellation, which electronically adjusts a room’s acoustic signature, now counts over 175 systems in 31 countries, from The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center to the Grand Theater at Shanghai’s Bank of Communications NEW BUND 31 Performing Arts Center.
A Regenerative Approach Elevates Each Room
At the heart of Constellation is the patented VRA (Variable Room Acoustic) System algorithm, created by New Zealand acoustician Dr. Mark Poletti and licensed by Level Control Systems (LCS), which Meyer Sound acquired in 2006. In a Constellation system, microphones, digital signal processing, and distributed loudspeakers work together to shape a room’s reverberant character.
“From the start, this technology was about giving venues acoustic flexibility that architecture alone couldn’t provide,” says Meyer Sound Chief Operating Officer John McMahon, who was CEO of LCS at the time of the acquisition. “Twenty years later, it’s remarkable to see how many kinds of spaces have embraced it.” Constellation installations now span the globe, from Germany’s kING Culture and Congress Hall to Monash University’s Alexander Theatre in Melbourne and Hanoi’s Ho Guom Opera.
“What sets Constellation apart is that it’s a regenerative system,” says Meyer Sound Constellation Business Development Manager John Owens. “We take the inherent acoustic signature of the room and elevate it, rather than imposing a separate sound on the room. We’re not replacing acousticians,” he adds. “We’re working with them to make great rooms more variable.”
The approach has won over numerous artists. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams has called Constellation “living proof that skilled engineering and technology can indeed improve the physical spaces where we listen to music,” and violinist Joshua Bell has described it as “almost miraculous in what it can do.”
NADIA Processing Expands What Constellation Can Do
Meyer Sound’s NADIA digital audio platform made its debut in 2023 at The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where Founder and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis called it “the new heart of Constellation, which has changed the world of concert halls.” NADIA has since powered Constellation’s most recent projects, including upgrades at National Sawdust in Brooklyn and at Zellerbach Hall. The platform hosts the first major revision of the VRAS algorithm since its creation, generating a richer, denser pattern of reflections so rooms feel larger while staying natural and clear.
“Constellation is designed to disappear. Audiences shouldn’t be able to tell it’s on; they only realize what it was doing when it’s turned off,” Owens says. “The revised VRAS algorithm takes that transparency even further.”
NADIA also delivers more gain and faster commissioning, and venues upgrading from the earlier D-Mitri digital audio platform gain room to grow.
Seven Applications Show Constellation’s Full Range
The Constellation Acoustic Suite presents Constellation as a family of applications, each focused on a clear outcome that can be used individually or in combination. “Over 20 years of development, Constellation has taken on roles well beyond the concert hall,” Owens says. “Giving each of those applications a name makes it easier for venues and consultants to see what Constellation can do for them.”
The suite builds on the framework Meyer Sound uses to describe Constellation: four paths of communication in a room, from performer to audience, audience to performer, performer to performer, and audience to audience. Within that framework, the suite defines seven applications.
- Constellation Perform adapts a music venue’s natural acoustics for everything from chamber music to orchestral and amplified performance.
- Constellation Stage improves musicians’ experience onstage by improving communication and timing, serving in place of or alongside a physical orchestra shell, or as a standalone onstage system.
- Constellation Elevate provides natural voice lift that helps speech carry in lecture halls, government meeting halls, and houses of worship.
- Constellation Unite strengthens the acoustic connection of audience members, from congregational call and response to laughter and applause in television studios.
- Constellation Focus brings localized clarity and sound masking to boardrooms, classrooms, and hospitality spaces.
- Constellation Ignite reinforces crowd energy in sports arenas and large-scale entertainment venues.
- Constellation Create enables drama theaters, recording studios, scoring stages, and post-production facilities to shape and transform their acoustics as part of the creative process.
Classrooms, Arenas, and Studios Expand Constellation’s Reach
Some of these applications draw on years of installations, while others are opening new markets for Constellation.
Sports venues are a growing focus. As sports arenas are, by necessity, being adjusted acoustically to support more music events, sports fans still need to feel connected to each other. At Stockholm’s Avicii Arena, a 12-zone Constellation system lets hockey fans at opposite ends of the 14,000-seat arena hear each other’s chants and songs despite the reduced reverberation time. “Arenas are increasingly treated so they sound good for concerts, but that takes the energy out of the crowd at a game,” says Meyer Sound Constellation Director Pierre Germain. “Constellation gives that energy back, so the same building works for both.”
Germain sees potential beyond arenas, too, from immersive sports-viewing venues to sports bars on championship nights.
Education has proven a natural fit. The University of Copenhagen’s Maersk Tower is home to the world’s largest education-focused Constellation installation, and at Sweden’s Örebro University, instructors use Constellation to focus sound on small student groups, then return to presentation mode at the push of a button.
Recording studios are another frontier. “Instead of having everybody on headphones going through a reverb plugin, you can have the room create something really unusual,” Germain says. “It’s using the room as an effects tool to inspire more creativity from musicians and recording engineers.”
Integration Shapes What’s Next
Constellation’s next chapter is already underway, with NADIA connecting it to Meyer Sound’s broader processing ecosystem. “Venues shouldn’t have to think about Constellation as something separate,” Owens says. “It’s one part of an audio system where everything works together.”
“What competitors can’t match is time and experience,” Germain says. “And we’re still pushing the envelope.”