Adlib Makes a Celtic Connection at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Glasgow, Scotland (March 30, 2026)—Following nearly a decade of collaboration with the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, UK integrator Adlib recently completed the installation of a new permanent audio system in the venue’s Main Auditorium.

Adlib has worked with the venue for years, providing ongoing rental and technical services, andregularly supplying additional touring equipment for visiting artists, including Sheryl Crow and The Darkness.

The installation, however, came in the wake of Adlib providing a flown large-format rental audio system supplied for the long-running Celtic Connections festival, used as an example of what a permanent system could achieve and how it could be used within the space to reinforce but not necessarily overpower performances. Held annually in January and February throughout the city, the festival’s flagship venue is the main auditorium of the Hall. The genre-crossing festival, spanning American blues, world music, folk, contemporary ensembles and intimate recitals, provided the opportunity to try the system with a wide variety of musical styles.

Douglas Steel, technical manager with Glasgow Life (the arts organization that runs the Hall), noted, “Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Main Auditorium hosts 200 events over the course of the year—everything from orchestral, folk music to rock and pop. We used to be reliant on visiting productions, bringing their own P.A. systems in, which meant we couldn’t always guarantee that every seat in the house was experiencing the same level of audio quality. As a venue, we want to attract the best artists and performances possible. It was extremely important for the venue to upgrade the P.A. system so that we were in line with the expectations and requirements of visiting productions and engineers.”

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With that in mind, the permanent installation was designed with a focus on ensuring uniform coverage across every seat, utilizing extensive under-balcony delay coverage and carefully optimized system design, while preserving the architectural sightlines that are critical in concert hall environments.

For the larger P.A. hangs, Adlib ultimately proposed a system based around L-Acoustics boxes, with K2s, KARA down-fills and KS28 subwoofers forming the main hangs, while X12 and A15 loudspeakers provide flown out-fill and choir-stall coverage. On stage, X8 loudspeakers are deployed along the downstage edge, with stacked KS21 subwoofers and A15s used as in-fill. Under-balcony coverage is delivered via 5XT loudspeakers. The system is driven by L-Acoustics LA12X and LA4X amplified controllers, with two L-Acoustics P1 processors providing the system front-end. Signal distribution is handled via an AVB Milan network using Netgear M4250 AV Line switches and L-Acoustics LS10 AVB switches, with AVB redundancy and AES3 feeds for LA4X controllers.

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Steel added, “When Adlib presented their design…we were really excited to engage with them. The design ensures that every seat in the house is being considered so that everyone has the same experience. It’s important to us to have a P.A. system that doesn’t encroach on the space…. Working with Adlib has been absolutely brilliant. We knew what we wanted to achieve, and Adlib came forward with the system that exceeded the criteria outlined by the venue.”