Powersoft’s Unica third-generation amp platform is impressing audiences at Cine Teatro Liz Bastos in Brazil with its AES67 connectivity and power-sharing capabilities, providing a 7.1 surround sound set-up for an immersive cinema experience. The renovated venue in Itabirito, featuring a 571-seat capacity, now boasts a versatile audio system that can handle various events while maintaining high-quality audio output. The Unica platform’s efficiency and ease of use have garnered praise, with the cinema receiving positive feedback for its cutting-edge AV system since reopening earlier this year.
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Absolute cinema: UNICA steals the show at Cine Teatro Liz Bastos
With its AES67 connectivity and power-sharing capabilities, the third-generation amp platform was the obvious choice for a 7.1 surround sound set-up.
Powersoft’s third-generation install amplifier platform, Unica, is delivering intelligent, intelligible audio at the recently renovated Cine Teatro Liz Bastos in south-eastern Brazil, where a four-amplifier set-up is providing enough oomph for an immersive Dolby Cinema experience while offering the flexibility to handle theatre, music, dance and lecture programming with plenty of power to spare.
After years of closure, the cinema was purchased by the mayor’s office and comprehensively rebuilt and modernised, reopening to great fanfare earlier this year. As part of the renovation, local consultant Leonardo Pavanello Projetos was tasked with conceiving a completely new AVL system for the 571-seat venue, located in Itabirito, in the state of Minas Gerais.
For the audio component, the consultant specified a 7.1 surround sound set-up capable of delivering an all-encompassing 3D audio experience for filmgoers but which could, if needed, also allow for the use of spatial sound by visiting concert tours and other live events. The system would also need to be compact and energy efficient without compromising the quality of the audio.
To meet this challenging brief, systems integrators Multicom Engenharia and Universal Music Brazil selected the Unica platform as the engine for this new do-it-all sound system. Unica’s native AES67 connectivity enables seamless integration with the Cine Teatro Liz Bastos’s Dolby Cinema processor (the technology behind Dolby Atmos surround sound), while Powersoft’s ArmoníaPlus software enables straightforward, intuitive channel patching and easy day-to-day control of the amplifier system.
Maximum efficiency is achieved through the power-sharing capabilities built into Unica. Using Powersoft’s Power Sharing Tool, the Universal Music Brazil and Multicom Engenharia teams were able to use the same amplifier to power and process both subwoofers and high-frequency response speakers, cutting rack space and total system cost while maintaining the output needed for both films and live shows.
According to Universal Music’s Gera Vieira the result is a whole “new experience” for the people of Itabirito that restores a cherished venue to the city’s cultural life. “The 7.1 surround sound system has made a huge difference to the cinema experience, and the possibility of using it for live shows is a totally new perspective,” he comments.
In addition to elevating the movie- and concert-going experience, the new system provides cinema staff with a true plug-and-play experience requiring no in-depth technical knowledge. “Once the power is on, there’s no intricate set-up needed,” Vieira explains. “The automatic switching from digital to analogue allows an ultra-fast transition from movies to music shows.”
The audio installation pairs two Unica 8K8 (8 × 1000 W) and two Unica 12K4 (4 × 3000 W) amplifiers with LS Áudio speakers and subs and a Dolby Cinema processor.
Since reopening at the beginning of 2025, the redesigned Cine Teatro Liz Bastos has garnered consistent praise for the quality of the visitor experience and its cutting-edge, immersive AV system. Carluccia Carrazza, cultural director at the Secretariat of Heritage, Culture and Tourism of the city of Itabirito, sums up the local response to what she describes as “the wonderful, immersive sound system”: “No matter where you are sat, it feels like you’re inside the movie.”
Source: Press Release