HUNTINGTON, West Virginia – Marshall
University’s 9,100-seat Cam Henderson Center is the college’s primary indoor
athletic facility. First opened in 1981, the Center was ready for a sound
system installation upgrade, which was handled by Newtech Systems, Inc., a
systems integrator with locations in Dunbar, West Virginia, Ashland, Kentucky
and Lexington, Kentucky. Tom Kibler, system designer and sales executive for
Newtech Systems Inc., supervised the installation of a new audio system that
includes more than 60 HARMAN’s JBL VRX932LA-1 Constant Curvature loudspeakers,
powered by Crown DSi 4000, IT5000 HD and CDi 4000 amplifiers. The system also
utilizes BSS Audio Soundweb London BLU-160 Signal
Processors and other BSS Audio components. Coffeen Fricke and Associates was
the designer and acoustical consultant for the project.
“We chose HARMAN products because
they were the best fit for me as the systems integrator,” Kibler noted. “I am
very familiar with the JBL, Crown and BSS Audio products we used and in my
experience they are the most reliable in their respective categories. I did
consider other brands but in addition to their performance advantages concluded
that the HARMAN brands offer the best bang for the buck.”
The JBL VRX932LA-1 loudspeakers are
suspended from steel trusses around the interior of the arena. Each array
column consists of either six or four loudspeakers. Two of the arrays are used
for events such as commencements where only the arena’s stage is needed; these
arrays are turned off during sporting events when the rest of the speakers are
used. The system is set up so the loudspeakers’ focal points and delays are
automatically reconfigured at the touch of a preset, using the Soundweb London
BLU-160’s Control Inputs and Logic Outputs. In addition to the main arrays,
four JBL ASB6128V subwoofers located at the center of the arena provide
low-frequency reinforcement.
Two full-size equipment racks
located in a dedicated electronics room contain 16 Crown DSi 4000, one CDi 4000
and two IT5000HD power amplifiers, along with the Soundweb London BLU-160
Signal Processor and a BLU-BOB2
Output Expander.
“With a job this big it’s especially
true that time is money,” said Kibler, “and our installation crew marvelled at
how easy it was to mount the JBL VRX932LA-1’s. Their specially designed
quick-release integral rigging hardware, compact size and relatively light
46-pound weight made it possible for us to complete the installation under the
hours we had bid for the project.”
“The JBL VRX932LA-1 loudspeakers
allowed us to get good, clean, crisp audio to every seat in the arena,” Kibler
continued. “One feature that came in really handy was their Array Configuration
Selector, a series of switches that control the output of each high-frequency
section in the array. This lets you set each VRX932LA-1 to deliver more
high-frequency output to a distant location or less output to seats that are
closer up. This feature really came in handy and allowed us to quickly do
high-frequency ‘shadowing’ or fine-tuning for the near and far throw boxes in
the speaker stacks. We boosted the highs 3dB on the top two arrays in the
six-array stacks. We did the final high-frequency ‘sweetening’ with the BLU-160
during the commissioning of the system.”
“Programming
the digital signal processing for an audio system has been a part of my work
since DSP first came into the industry, and the BSS Audio Soundweb London audio
networking products, DSP and setup software used in this installation actually
made life pretty easy,” Kibler stated. “Not only did it provide a high level of
system tuning, it enabled us to set up custom GUI [Graphical User Interface]
pages and shortcuts, for example, the page that instantly switches between the
stage speakers and the main venue speakers. The University staff wanted the
system to be easy to operate, and Soundweb London made this possible.”
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 20
million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and
infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the
Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal
year ended June 30, 2012.
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