Chilliwack, BC, Canada – For an audio professional, creating a sound system for a large aquatic center is not a simple task. The combination of high walls, corrugated metal roofs, and an abundance of concrete, glass, and water makes for an acoustical environment that is far from pretty, even before it’s packed with noisy revelers.

Rising to the challenge was Chilliwack-based Go Audio, the company behind the audio installations at both Cheam Leisure Centre and cross-town neighbor Chilliwack Landing Leisure Centre. Both projects employed a very novel design approach featuring the Renkus-Heinz Iconyx digitally steered array.

Unlike most applications where the steered array is used as a vertical column line array, the approach at the aquatic centers involved suspending the Iconyx from the roof overhead, and steering the beams to focus the sound away from the walls and other highly reflective surfaces.

The Cheam project came first. Go Audio’s Mike Evans called Fred Gilpin of Renkus-Heinz distributor Contact Distribution, and asked him to have a look at the project. “We’ve worked with Fred on other projects, including a church in Vancouver that had very challenging acoustics,� says Evans. “We installed Iconyx IC16 and IC8 there and it worked great, so we were confident that Iconyx would be the best choice.�

The Cheam system includes six IC7-WR powered column arrays, with a Rane processor handling system DSP. “Because of the Iconyx’s very narrow vertical dispersion, we positioned four IC7’s horizontally over the outer walkway, aimed slightly inward,� Evans explains. “We were able to keep the sound completely off the walls and cover just the walkway and a bit of the pool. Two more IC7’s suspended at 45 degrees cover the water with minimal overlap. The coverage is seamless wherever you are, with no need for delays.�

Based on the success of the Cheam project, Go Audio was called back to revamp the audio system at Chilliwack Landing. “That project was a bit more challenging,� says Evans. “The space is configured a bit differently, and there was some ductwork we had to work around as well. We ended up using a total of ten Iconyx boxes to cover everything.� With an existing rack of Crown CTi-series amplifiers and wiring already in place, the decision was made to go with unpowered ICX7-WR units.

Evans reports that management and patrons alike at both venues have been very pleased with the results. “The primary objective was spoken word intelligibility for safety announcements and such,� he says. “But the Iconyx has been great for background music as well. Typically in this sort of environment, it’s just too reverberant to run background music at the levels necessary to overcome the ambient noise. But with the Iconyx, the music is exceptionally articulate, even at lower levels.�

Evans concludes, “I was amazed the first time I stepped out of an Iconyx steered beam and immediately recognized how useful this speaker system would be! It’s very gratifying hearing the clarity Iconyx delivers in these challenging environments.�

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Headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California, Renkus-Heinz, Inc. is the worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of audio operations networks, digitally steerable arrays, powered and non-powered loudspeakers, system specific electronics and fully integrated Reference Point Array systems. 

San Francisco, CA – December 2012….. The Lincoln Highway was the first automobile road across the United States, stretching from New York’s Times Square to San Francisco. Marking the road’s western end, high on a hill overlooking the Pacific and the Golden Gate Bridge, is the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. The building, a magnificent three-quarter-scale reproduction of Paris’ Palais de la Légion d’Honneur, is home to a wide and varied collection of ancient and European art spanning more than 6,000 years.

The Palace is also home to the Florence Gould Theater, an ornate 333-seat jewel box auditorium designed by museum architect George Applegarth. Opened in 1924 as the Little Theater, the venue hosts a regular calendar of concerts, lectures and theater performances.

The theater’s massive columns, rounded walls, and domed ceilings create a breathtaking environment, as well as some legendary challenging acoustics. “The room has no acoustic treatment whatsoever, and an abundance of hard surfaces,” offers Joe Orlando of Atwater, CA-based Commercial Media Systems. “It’s highly reverberant, and spoken word intelligibility is pretty much non-existent.” Commercial Media created the system design and assisted the Museum’s production department with the installation.

“The room works great if you’re onstage and you have a good, theatrical speaking voice,” observes John Anaya, Production Manager for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. “But for amplified sound, the room has some very problematic reflections. In fact, we found that the best seats in the house for sound were in the very back of the theater, while the front rows had terrible sound.”

Over the years, a succession of audio systems has failed to make a significant impact on the problem, until CMS recommended an upgrade to four Community ENTASYS high-performance column line arrays. A pair of ENTASYS full-range columns are mounted on either side of the proscenium, powered by the museum’s existing Hafler amps.

“Due to the room’s architecture we had to mount the speakers much higher than what would have been the optimal height,” Orlando explains. “But the ENTASYS columns enabled us to angle the arrays and focus the sound downward to the seating area, and off the walls and domed ceiling. ENTASYS is really the only system that would have worked in that space.”

“Of course, we were not going to put anything in here that affected the aesthetics of the room,” adds Anaya. “The ENTASYS speakers blend into the space perfectly; they match the walls so well, we find we have to point out to people where the speakers are.”

Anaya sums it up: “It has been like night and day. The clarity in the room is phenomenal.”

Click here to view the video.

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Community Professional Loudspeakers is a manufacturer and supplier of professional audio equipment. Since 1968, Community has led the pro-audio industry with technological innovations which have become industry standards. Today, Community offers over 150 professional loudspeaker products, including installed loudspeaker systems, weather-resistant outdoor loudspeaker systems, ceiling loudspeakers, high level voice paging systems, and portable entertainment systems. Visit www.communitypro.com for more information.

Boom, Belgium – December 2012….. The Heilig Hart (Sacred Heart) church in Boom, just South of Antwerp in Belgium, has recently had a new Community audio system installed by communication and integration specialist, Zelzate-based Tevean nv.

With capacity for up to 700 people and contemporary architecture, the large open space required good pattern control loudspeakers to avoid the reflective surfaces in the highly reverberant environment. Community ENTASYS three-way, full-range, column-line-array systems were chosen for their ideal wide horizontal and extremely narrow vertical dispersion. As the system is used for music and small concerts, in addition to its prime function of speech reinforcement, compact dual 12-inch Community VLF212 subwoofers were incorporated to extend the low frequency and add powerful bass performance.

Providing flexibility with simple control, Tevean installed a Symetrix Solus 8 open architecture 8×8 DSP with control via a Symetrix ARC-2e menu-driven wall panel remote. A variety of Clockaudio and MIPRO ACT-5 wireless microphones meet the fixed and portable requirements of the church.

Mario Clabots, managing director of the equipment supplier, M-Pro, commented, “The client and visitors are very pleased with the excellent audio quality, wide coverage and sound levels the system provides. It achieves very high intelligibility right to the back of the church and delivers the ideal solution for both speech and music.”

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NORTHRIDGE, California – New York City’s Birdland is one of the most legendary jazz clubs in the world, an intimate room where aficionados can enjoy the world’s greatest jazz artists in an up-close environment. Perhaps more than most venues, the sound system at Birdland is a vital part of the musical experience. Birdland has taken its in-house audio to new heights with a host of HARMAN’s JBL loudspeakers including six VRX932LAP powered Constant Curvature loudspeakers, a pair of ASB6112 subwoofers, two Control 29AV loudspeakers and six PRX612M powered portable PA speakers used as stage monitors.

“As the engineer at Birdland, the most important thing for me to be able to do is amplify the musicians’ stage performances in the most naturally sounding way so that the system is almost invisible,� said Birdland house engineer Richard Bernard. “The legendary musicians who perform at the club almost always have their own very distinct sound and that’s what people want to hear—‘that sound’.�

A sound system that needed to be heard while not drawing attention to itself was quite a challenge. To achieve this goal, Birdland hung six JBL VRX932LAP loudspeakers directly above the stage facing the audience—two facing downstage towards the main house, two located stage right towards one side of the room and two on stage left facing the rear side of the bar. In addition, two Control 29AV loudspeakers are hung at the far side of the bar, giving total coverage for the room. The two ASB6112 subwoofers are hung downstage on the left and right front corners.

“I’m running the system in mono, and the subwoofers are connected to the spare aux send on the mixing desk, so I’m free to choose which channels I send to the subs,� Bernard noted. “I used to have to mix for the house and the bar would basically get what they would get. That’s no longer a problem as we’ve had many compliments on being able to hear from that side of the room.�

That said, the most noticeable improvement in the system is the level of clarity, Bernard noted. “This is a massive help because the response of instruments and vocals is very true and I’m not forced to just keep turning up an instrument in order for people to hear it—once everything is in its own little pocket in the mix, it just sounds great!�

In addition to JBL loudspeakers, Birdland installed a variety of additional HARMAN equipment, including AKG microphones, dbx processing and Crown amplifiers.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,900 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for year ended June 30, 2012.

OXNARD, California — L-ACOUSTICS is pleased to announce that two new product videos — “ARCS WIDE and ARCS FOCUS” and “CONSTANT CURVATURE LINE SOURCES” — are now available online.

In the Constant Curvature video, Scott Sugden, head of application, touring for the US, gives a short presentation on the physical principles and acoustic properties of L-ACOUSTICS WST constant curvature line sources and how they can be exploited in a variety of applications. more

BUENA PARK, Calif.—Home to many of the University of Nevada Las Vegas performing arts groups, the 550-seat Judy Bayley Theater opened in 1972 and features a raked auditorium, a fully-rigged, proscenium stage, and a thrust-apron that can be used as an orchestra pit.

A new audio system was recently recommended by audio expert Mary McFadden, designed and installed by PRG, and includes a Yamaha M7CL-48ES digital audio console, IS series speakers, DME24 (Digital Mixing Engine), and XP amplifiers. McFadden is quite familiar with the venue and has taught in the theater as faculty adjunct for sound design. Last year, she had students put a delay line in the theater, a very successful project. “Brackley Frayer, the department chairman, called me in January to ask me to consult on a new system, as funding had been obtained to update both the sound and lighting system,� states McFadden.

“There is no sound design degree at the school, but there is a concentration in sound design available within the general theater BA,� says McFadden. “Since there is no full-time faculty that teaches sound, my feeling was, the new system needed to be easy to operate and have a digital signal path to familiarize students with digital audio networking and concepts. The Yamaha M7CL-48ES package fit these requirements.�

“PRG worked as a subcontractor to American Southwest Electric to bid on the project, and we won the bid with ASE,� states PRG Audio Designer, Eric Hebard. The bid’s Scope of Work included more than pro audio and lighting; ASE handled the general and electrical construction portions, and PRG handled all the audio system engineering and installation. “The design included the rigging of the speakers based on locations that Mary had specified: the small shrouds for the portable Yamaha SB168’s stage boxes, the rack with power and thermal dissipation to properly house the equipment, how to reasonably network the SB168’s, power and network locations to stay within budgets, and in keeping with modular capabilities,� says Hebard.

“The Yamaha DME is a key part of the system, McFadden says; ‘it is very cost effective, and has all the DSP required for the system – EQ, crossovers, delays, etc. It also has a delay matrix component, and surround sound capability. I used the delay matrix to teach and design with last year, and this year I am using it for ‘God Lives in Glass’, a benefit for both Family Promise and the Nevada Conservatory Theatre, the professional Equity arm of the theater school. The DME is a great teaching tool, and gets students to think about signal processing and design in the digital realm.� The school plans to buy an ES card for the DME to make the DME part of the ES network – right now it’s analog in and out. By using the GUI for the DME, students can become familiar with system design concepts.�

“I am very pleased with the new Yamaha sound system,� states Brackley Frayer, Chair and Executive Director, Department of Theater and the Nevada Conservatory Theater. “When the designers and engineers played their demo tapes through the new system, I sat back and enjoyed the result. This is the best sound I have heard in the Judy Bayley Theater since I arrived 17 years ago.�

For more information on PRG, visit www.prg.com.

For more information on Yamaha Commercial Audio products, visit www.yamahaca.com.

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About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.:
Celebrating 125 years of Passion and Performance, and 25 years in the manufacturer of high quality digital audio consoles, Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. (YCAS) provides a full line of integrated professional audio products offering complete systems solutions for the broadcast, sound reinforcement/installed sound, touring, commercial recording, and post production markets. With the addition of NEXO to the product line, the company remains the official U.S. and Canadian distributor for all NEXO speaker models. YCAS offers comprehensive in-house and field product training for its customers, a dedicated dealer network, and 24/7 technical support.

Cerwin-Vega! held a party in New York on Thursday, December 6 to celebrate the official availability of its new P-Series professional PA system, which delivers a new standard in power and bass punch, suited for any sound reinforcement application, from live performances to public speeches. The P-Series family includes two active speaker products: the P1500X and the P1800SX.

The Dirty Pearls peforming at the Cerwin-Vega! P-Series Lauch Party in NYC on 12/6 - the band relied on the gear to help blast their awesome sound!

A Martin Audio OmniLine® system has been specified and installed at Central Railway Station in Sydney, the largest in Australia, to conquer a speech intelligibility problem that has persisted for years.

The Country Trains Concourse, measuring 360 ft x 196 ft x 32 ft with a challenging RT60 time of 5.5 seconds in the mid-band, has long defied attempts to get intelligible announcements heard by commuters. Over the years, many brands have successively tried and failed to tame the inherent reverberation caused by a combination of terrazzo floors, sandstone and plate glass walls and a high arched steel roof.

Last year Glenn Leembruggen, principal of Acoustic Directions, became the latest specialist to do battle with the acoustically hostile environment.

Since acoustic treatment of the inside of the roof was ruled out as being financially untenable, two members of the Acoustic Directions team, David Connor and David Gilfillan, decided to trial several software-driven systems and different steerable line array solutions.

They ultimately concluded that a Martin Audio OmniLine system, with DSP processing, would produce the best quality and best speech clarity. They duly specified 120 steered elements supplied by TAG, Martin Audio’s Australian distributors.

Modular and scalable, this particular OmniLine installation used a special version of the Martin Audio Display software (operating under an FIR filtering scheme that addressed every element in the array with its own processed channel). The intelligent software enabled the array to be configured to deliver sound precisely over the venue’s vertical profile without spillage. Furthermore, elimination of high-frequency side-lobes gives OmniLine an advantage over conventional DSP steered columns making it suitable for high quality speech and music reproduction even in reverberant spaces such as railway station concourses.

Acoustic Directions were thus able to simultaneously optimize the direct field over the listening area, keep the sound off reflective rear walls, and minimise reverberant sound power. The result is remarkably high intelligibility throughout the concourse, even at rush hour, when as many as 3,000 passengers are adding to the cacophony of noise resonating around this vast cavern.

With the amps situated as much as 650 ft away from the speakers, a 100 Volt system was required, and Acoustic Directions worked with Harbuch Electronics to develop a 100V loudspeaker transformer that was ultra-flat and with only 10 degrees of phase shift at 20kHz. The FIR filters that beam control the array are implemented in Nion processors with the loudspeakers being driven by 8-channel 2.4kW amplifiers (to provide 120 amp channels).

Acoustic Directions optimized the frequency responses over the listening area using time-windowed impulse responses.

The installation also picked up a coveted Rutledge AV Industry Award (an AVIA) with the judges commending Acoustic Directions’ meticulous implementation of the modelling, installation and commissioning of the system.

As a result, for the first time not only can amplified speech be easily understood in any part of the concourse, but music and pre-recorded messages sound natural and clear—and roaming hand-held wireless microphones can function without fear of feedback.

In fact, such is the confidence inspired by this new solution, that special events, promotions and even live music events are being hosted at Sydney’s Central Railway Station, using the house system!

For more about Martin Audio, please click to www.martin-audio.com.

About Martin Audio®
Founded by audio engineer David Martin in 1971, Martin Audio pioneered the use of all-horn-loaded bass designs in world-class touring loudspeaker systems for groups such as Pink Floyd, ELP and Supertramp. Located outside of London, Martin Audio now embodies a sophisticated mix of acoustic design, research, mathematical modeling and software engineering for a wide range of products in the installation, cinema and touring sound markets.

About OmniLine®
OmniLine is a versatile, micro-line array designed for installation in a wide variety of architectural environments. Its modular approach and scalability extend its use from foreground applications to sound reinforcement in large acoustic spaces. Intelligent software enables an array to be configured to deliver sound precisely over any vertical angle to fit the venue profile without spilling onto surfaces where sound is not required. Additionally, elimination of high-frequency side-lobes gives OmniLine the advantage over currently available DSP steered columns, making it suitable for high quality music reproduction as well as speech in large, reverberant spaces. Each array is constructed by connecting multiple modules. Up to 32 modules can be connected where both high output and vertical focusing down to low/mid frequencies are required. Smaller number of modules (down to 4) can be used for shorter-throw applications, where vertical focusing of the low/mid frequencies is less important. This scalability means that OmniLine can be used in a variety of applications. Visually, an OmniLine array is slim and unobtrusive, with soft lines that minimize its visual presence in an architectural environment.

COLUMBUS, OHIO: Nationwide Arena is home to the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League and is host to most of the popular musical acts that travel through Ohio’s capital city. Depending on its configuration, Nationwide Arena can accommodate between 17,000 and 21,000 people, and its recent turn-of-the-millennium design and construction have been widely praised by sports fans and critics. ESPN The Magazine wrote that Nationwide Arena is “the No. 2 stadium experience in professional sports� and the “Ultimate Sports Road Trip� deemed it the greatest arena in the NHL. However, poor sound system coverage had been Nationwide Arena’s dirty little secret since it opened its doors in 2000, and the owners were wisely unwilling to rest on their laurels. Recently, as part of a project that included a massive video upgrade, acoustical consultant Anthony James Partners joined A/V integration firm Daktronics to bring sound reinforcement in line with the rest of the arena’s amenities using efficient, point-source Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers and subwoofers.

“Achieving even coverage with conventional loudspeaker technologies is challenging because low-frequency pattern control is seldom very good,� explained Larry Lucas, director of audio engineering with Anthony James Partners. “As a result, system components interfere with each other and create uneven coverage that cannot be rectified with all the processing in the world. Danley Sound Labs’ unconventional designs array seamlessly and deliver excellent pattern control. Moreover, they are inexpensive relative to their output, which provides exceptional return on investment for the client.�

The design called for eight primary clusters distributed equally around the arena. Each cluster contains two Danley SH-96 full-range loudspeakers hard-packed side-by-side and a Danley TH-118 subwoofer. Eight wide-dispersion Danley SM-100 loudspeakers populate a delay ring that provides coverage for Nationwide Arena’s highest tier. Two additional SH-96s cover the ice. Daktronics installed all of the clusters on chain motors for easy servicing and, in the case of those clusters whose positions would interfere with musical acts, easy hoisting.

The rest of the sound reinforcement system benefitted from the retrofit as well. A new Allen & Heath iLive console provides 32 inputs and 16 outputs at the main mix position and 16 inputs and 8 outputs at a remote position. A QSC Q-Sys processor with a 500i core provides input conditioning, routing logic, and modest loudspeaker conditioning. Lab.gruppen PLM-series amplifiers deliver clean power to the Danley loudspeakers and subwoofers. Because both the Q-Sys processing system and the PLM-series amplifiers are network-ready, Daktronics was able to provide the owners with comprehensive monitoring facilities in the A/V control room.

Nationwide Arena’s new high-definition sound reinforcement system complements a new high-definition video system. Its showpiece is a new 43,000 lb. scoreboard that uses nearly sixteen million LEDs to display high-definition video on four 25-foot by 15.5-foot screens. The brilliant scoreboard hangs over center ice. In addition, two “party towers� now use LED technology to project 25-foot by 14-foot video images in the west corners of the arena. Various smaller screens project in upgraded high-definition, and the resolution of the ribbon video board that circles most of the arena is doubled.

“With the Danley system installed, the coverage is close to perfect,� said David Sturzenbecher, audio project engineer with Daktronics. “The design specification called for +/- 4dB throughout, and the system measures closer to +/- 2dB throughout. Because the Danley products deliver so much output, we needed vastly fewer boxes to provide full coverage than we would have used with conventional loudspeakers or line arrays. That let us give them a very high-performance system at a much lower price tag. And not only is the coverage excellent, but so too is the fidelity and low-frequency extension.� Jeff Baumgartner, Nationwide’s in-house A/V engineer stated, “Daktronics design engineers created a virtual arena and accurately predicted the performance throughout the arena. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the system. Coverage is darn near perfect.�

ABOUT DANLEY SOUND LABS Danley Sound Labs is the exclusive home of Tom Danley, one of the most innovative loudspeaker designers in the industry today and recognized worldwide as a pioneer for “outside the box” thinking in professional audio technology.

www.danleysoundlabs.com

Costa Mesa, CA (December 5, 2012) – QSC Audio Products is proud to announce the launch of the AcousticPerformance™ line of professional, two-way, full-range loudspeakers, ideal for a variety of installed sound reinforcement applications which require higher SPL and a stylish enclosure. All models feature a 3-inch voice coil, high power-capacity compression driver combined with high-output woofers to deliver exceptional full bandwidth reproduction.

“In keeping with QSC’s loudspeaker design philosophy, all AcousticPerformance loudspeakers feature Directivity Matched Transition™ (DMT) which matches the compression driver to the natural coverage angle of the woofer in the cross-over region�, states Phil Sanchez, QSC Loudspeaker Product Manager. “When combined with their axisymmetric waveguides, AcousticPerformance loudspeakers deliver a flat power response with smooth and accurate sonic reproduction and remarkably consistent coverage both on and off-axis.�

AcousticPerformance models may be used in passive (full-range) mode to minimize amplifier channel count or bi-amp mode for greater control and performance. To further enhance performance, bi-amp and full-range tunings using QSC Intrinsic Correction techniques are available for Q-Sysâ„¢ and future QSC products.

All models feature M10 mounting points for deployment via eye-bolts as well as mount points for an optional yoke bracket. The AP-5122m multi-purpose enclosure features a 40-degree angle, making it ideal for floor monitor use, and a pole cup for deployment on a loudspeaker stand. The enclosure and terminal input cup on the AP-5122m have been designed to facilitate the cable runs for a clean appearance on stage.

Presenting a clean, unobtrusive look, AcousticPerformance grilles are unadorned, eliminating the need to cover-up logo treatments, which can be difficult to hide or remove. The grille is also lined with acoustically transparent backing, adding to the enclosure’s professional appearance.

AP-5102/5122/5152 models are available in black (RAL 9011) and white (RAL 9010) finishes. AP-5122m is available in black only. To minimize impact and disposal fees at the job site, all AcousticPerformance loudspeakers are packaged in environmentally friendly, recyclable cartons.

Key Features of the AcousticPerformance Line:

•DMT™ (Directivity Matched Transition) ensures smooth, coherent power response across the listening plane
•3� diaphragm compression delivers a clean and powerful high frequency response
•M10 fittings and yoke mount fittings offer flexible deployment options for a variety of applications
•Clean industrial design with unadorned grilles complement most decors and settings
•NL4 Speakon™ connector and covered barrier strip terminals*
•Bi-Amp / Passive Switchable
•Constructed from 15-ply Baltic birch plywood
•16-Gauge powder coated steel grilles
•Available in black (RAL 9011) and white (RAL 9010)*
•Complete EASE, CAD & BIM information available online
* Except for 5122m

For more information, visit the AcousticPerformance product page at http://qsc.com/products/speakers/ap/

About QSC Audio
QSC Audio Products, LLC is a leading manufacturer of power amplifiers, loudspeakers, digital signal processors, digital sound transport, and network audio for professional audio systems worldwide. qsc.com