Harvey in the Bonn Opera

For four years now, Berlin-based company Dspecialists’ audio and media control matrix has been on duty at the Bonn Opera – completely unobtrusive in a control room’s 19" rack. As Berlin’s former Governing Major Klaus Wowereit would probably say: “And that’s a good thing.”… PROFESSIONAL SYSTEM – Magazin für AV Systemintegration article from issue 06/2018 – Sound reinforcement // Audio networking at the Bonn Opera

Anyone  who  ponders  the  headline  and briefly has doubts about their own cultural  competence  can  lean  back  and relax: Harvey is not the forgotten early musical work of a well-known composer – rather, Harvey mx.16 is Berlin-based Dspecialists’ audio and media control matrix; a matrix, which has been operating reliably at the Bonn Opera for about four years. The visually rather inconspicuous 19" device was installed as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the in-house stage manager’s  system. This modernisation was carried  out  by  specialists from  Salzbrenner media, a system house for audio, video and media technology, during the summer break in 2014 – all within a tight schedule.

What does Harvey have to do with  Hollywood?
“The name Harvey goes back to the movie ‘Harvey’ with James Stewart,” reveals Jochen Cronemeyer and looks in somewhat stunned faces. The main shareholder and Managing Director of Dspecialists Digitale Audio- und Messsysteme GmbH, a company which is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2018, explains: “When we were looking for a suitable name for our device, it was clear from the start that it would eventually be installed in a 19" cabinet and would  serve  there  for  many  years  or  even decades. What do you call a device that is, so to speak, ‘invisible’?”

To explain: The main character of the US movie “Harvey”, a motion picture based on a play of the same name, is accompanied by a more than two meter tall rabbit named Harvey. While Dowd speaks with Harvey, the rabbit is invisible to others present. “So Harvey is just the right name for an invisible friend: You can’t see him, but he’s always there, doing his job,” Jochen Cronemeyer notes with a smile.