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The 310-seat lecture hall at the University of Central
Lancashire, Cyprus features a 5.1 surround sound system of JBL SRX712M and SRX718S loudspeakers, powered by Crown CTs amplifiers. |
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands — For the
past two months the University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus (UCLan Cyprus) has
been welcoming English speaking students to a new, €53 million campus, offering not only premium British higher
education but also a technological breakthrough in the way in which they can
engage with the digital teaching methods. A complete HARMAN audio system is at
the center of the new facility with components from BSS Audio, Crown, JBL and
Soundcraft.
Situated on a 40-acre site in Pyla
near Larnaka, the integrated AV infrastructure borders on the miraculous, not
only for the implementation of an advanced Learning Information Systems (LIS)
network but the speed with
which local AV specialist (and HARMAN Professional distributor) ALA Equipment
Co. Ltd. was
able to redesign the original topology to provide a more future proof solution,
after being brought in at the last minute.
In fact, ALA carried out full
turnkey planning and delivery of the €700,000 AV contract on the
8,000-square-meter campus in just the final three weeks of a fast track build
time that was itself accomplished in only 180 days.
The scope
of work included equipping 15 single and double
facing classrooms (in the first phase) with cutting-edge AV, as a precursor to
a further 30 that will follow. The other major challenge was to fit out a
310-seat lecture theater that had to double as a 5.1 cinema; it was here that
ALA proposed a theater-spec technical solution, including JBL SRX712M and SRX718S
which provides the 5.1 surround sound, powered by Crown CTs amplifiers. At
front of house, a Soundcraft Vi1 digital
mixing console has been specified to provide advanced, but easy-to-navigate
mixing for the technical staff.
Management
of the theater I/O’s is via four BSS Audio Soundweb London BLU-160 processors
using BLU link, BSS Audio’s proprietary network transport. Based on Gigabit Ethernet technology, BLU link carries 256
channels of fault-tolerant, low-latency audio at 48kHz/24bit, or 128 channels at
96kHz/24bit across a standard CAT5e connection—and thus provides an elegant and
economical cabling solution. The whole network is on a Gigabit backbone, accessed via an HP Procurve network
switch (100Mb 8 Port).
At
the same time, ALA’s generous tie line provision (along with SDI/3G video
networked feeds) ensures that OB trucks can operate at the venue.
Elsewhere
in the foyer, where a sophisticated media display provides looped promotional
footage while doubling as a relay screen from the lecture theater, sound
reinforcement is provided by four JBL CBT 50LA column speakers, powered by
Crown CTs amplifiers and controlled by dbx DriveRack 260 processors. These
receive feeds directly from the Soundweb London processors, as does a large
induction loop system.
Meanwhile,
in each of the first 15 classrooms to be equipped, the motorized front projection screen is accompanied by four JBL Control
24 ceiling speakers, powered by Crown XLS amps—allowing eight stereo inputs.
Andy
Belcher, UCLan’s own AV technician, responsible for providing teaching support,
was delighted with the fulfillment. “We knew how we wanted the installation—but this is far
different and a lot more advanced than our original design. I have been
impressed with the speed of delivery, the quality of ALA’s work and the
professional way in which they supported the contract.” At the same time Floros
Voniatis, Founding Partner from UCLan Cyprus’ senior management team, described
the integration as “one of the most advanced and fastest
constructions ever to be built in Cyprus.”
In fact,
thanks to this advanced deployment, there is now the possibility of distance
learning and lecture capture whereby lectures conducted 3,600 kilometers (2,237
miles) away in Preston, UK are transmitted to Pyla.
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