Peavey Commercial Audio® Scores with Prosound’s Design of World Cup Soccer Stadiums

Peavey Commercial Audio® Scores with Prosound’s Design of World Cup Soccer Stadiums

When the call of “goal!” reaches the tens of thousands of ears in the stadiums hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the audio will have been distributed and amplified by Peavey Commercial Audio® products.

Prosound, sub-Saharan Africa’s leading pro-audio and lighting design and installation firm, was tapped to outfit and update nine of the ten soccer stadiums in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. Prosound technical director Mark Malherbe selected MediaMatrix® and Crest Audio® for the audio distribution, control and amplification system needs in the stadiums.

The nine stadiums newly outfitted with Peavey products include the jewel in the crown of South African football: the newly renovated Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, which will host the opening ceremony and final championship game of the 2010 World Cup.

Prosound has created systems for over 30 stadiums in Africa, including the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

2010 marks the first time in the event’s 80-year history that the FIFA World Cup has been held in Africa. Running from June 11 to July 11, the tournament takes place in 10 venues, five new and five renovated stadiums. When Prosound was selected for the audio and lighting design in nine of the venues, Mark Malherbe knew he wanted to go with MediaMatrix and Crest Audio for a common audio backbone in all the stadiums.

“We’ve been using MediaMatrix since almost day one, and it means we can adapt quickly — we can fit in with any change and don’t have to quickly learn a new product,” said Malherbe in an interview with InAVate magazine.

Prosound provided the details of each installation in the June cover story of ProAudio Middle East magazine.

Soccer City Stadium
With a capacity of 94,700, Soccer City is the largest of South Africa’s stadiums. Originally built in 1987 with a capacity of 80,000, the venue underwent a complete renovation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The stadium’s outer perimeter has been designed to resemble a giant African pot, known as the calabash, and its aesthetic appeal is heightened when the stadium is lit at night. The orange seating is punctuated by grey stripes which point to the other nine stadiums being used for the competition.

This stadium has played an iconic role in South Africa’s history, hosting Nelson Mandela’s homecoming rally in 1990. On that day 100,000 people swarmed the stadium to hear him call for a unified South Africa. It’s fitting then that in its new guise, the stadium will host both the opening ceremony and final of the 2010 World Cup.

In the redesign, speakers are driven by 147 Crest CKi series amplifiers located in 10 racks around the venue. Each one powers a corresponding pair of speaker clusters. The amplifiers are all located in the roof near the loudspeakers. Malherbe explained:

“I wasn’t allowed to put too much weight up in the roof, so we had to make some compromises. If I’d gone for longer speaker cable runs, and mounted the amplifiers more remotely, I’d have lost a huge amount of power in the cables, no matter what gauge I used. This would have just ended up in my having to put more speakers up — and more weight.

“Locating the amp racks just off the maintenance gantry meant that my runs were much shorter and the power losses were much, much smaller. I didn’t need extra amplification or speakers to compensate. The upshot of this is that the signal path is overwhelmingly digital. Runs of Cat6 and optical fiber connect the CKi’s with the parent MediaMatrix NION® n6 DSP controllers, and from there to the sources and mixer in the controller room.”

“We chose the Peavey/Crest combination for a couple of reasons,” said Malherbe. “First, there is an almost seamless integration between the amps and the DSP, secondly they complied with the life safety requirements of the spec in terms of redundancy, and finally my technical guys are more familiar with the MediaMatrix solution.

“We’ve got six NION n6 processors to control the system, which provides enough overhead capacity for redundancy.”

Loftus Versfeld
Located in the heart of Pretoria, the 50,000 seat Loftus Versfeld is one of South Africa’s oldest stadiums.

The system at the Loftus used two Peavey MediaMatrix NION n3 processors and 42 Crest Audio CKi amps.

“As in all the other stadiums, all amplification was CKi. There is a mixture of mainly 1600 and 800V’s to do all the voice evacuation,” said head systems engineer Grant Scott. “We have two NION n3’s for processing, we are just using one and the other is redundant for standby.” Prior to the NION’s being installed in 2007, it was a total analog solution. “It was very difficult; we had an amplifier room in the players’ tunnel, they were all Crest Audio CD®’s at that stage, and we had one more behind each screen. We had long speaker runs.” With the new system there is a full redundant fiber loop around the stadium, there are new amp rooms in both the west and east stands, and it is CobraNet® distribution throughout.

Green Point
Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium stands in the Green Point suburb a short distance from the Atlantic Ocean with Table Mountain as its backdrop. During the World Cup it will be a 68,000-seat stadium. The system includes two Peavey MediaMatrix NION n3 processors and 62 Crest Audio CKi amps. There are four amplifier locations within the stadium, one in each stand.

“It’s all Crest Audio CKi power amps with the nX cards in them. It’s all CobraNet distribution which is fibered to the breakouts and all processed by two NION’s in the main control room,” explained Malherbe.

Ellis Park
Located in the heart of Johannesburg, Ellis Park stadium was given a significant face-lift before the Confederations Cup finals and now seats 62,000 fans.

Prosound put in the original system in 1981, which stayed in place until the Rugby World Cup in 1995 with only maintenance performed but no changes in the fundamental design.

“Now we have done a complete upgrade, there are entirely new loudspeakers, all Crest Audio amps, and all MediaMatrix processors,” said Malherbe.

The system includes two Peavey MediaMatrix NION n3 processors and 48 Crest Audio CKi amplifiers.

Nelson Mandela Bay
The brand new 48,000-seat Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth is set on the shores of the North End Lake.

DSP for the venue comes from two Peavey MediaMatrix NION n3 processors and the power is via 34 Crest Audio CKi amps.

Peter Mokaba Stadium
Named after one of the renowned sons of the struggle and emancipation of South Africa against the apartheid regime, the Peter Mokaba Stadium is in Polokwane.

For this stadium, five Peavey MediaMatrix NION n6 processors were used and power came from 30 Crest Audio CKi amps and 16 Ci20x8 eight-channel amps.

Mbombela Stadium
Mbombela is siSwati (one of the 11 official languages in South Africa) and literally means ‘many people together in a small space.’ The 64,000-seat stadium in Nelspruit is the first football stadium built to international standards in the Mpumalanga Province.

In the Mbombela Stadium, two Peavey MediaMatrix NION n3’s were used for DSP and 26 Crest Audio CKi amps were used in the system.

Free State Stadium
The 48,000 capacity Free State Stadium in Bloemfontien takes its name from the province in which it is located. For the 2010 World Cup, a second tier was added to the main grandstand, which increased the seating by 10,000.

This system is powered by 46 Crest Audio CKi amps, and two Peavey MediaMatrix NION n3’s were used for processing.

Royal Bafokeng Stadium
Built in 1999, the Royal Bafokeng Stadium near Rustenburg required only a minor upgrade for the World Cup. The capacity of the stadium was increased to 42,000.

The audio system is powered by 29 Crest Audio CKi amps. A single Peavey MediaMatrix NION n3 was used for processing.

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Wanna Play Stage at NAMM 2010 Showcases Crest Audio CV-20 Consoles

The Wanna Play? Stage at the 2010 NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif., showcased Crest Audio® CV-20™ mixing consoles and Pro 200™ power amplifiers, providing four days of professional sound reinforcement for bands such as Jive Records artists The Dares and the finalists of the SchoolJam USA national battle of the bands competition.

Located outside the Anaheim Convention Center at the John Lennon Plaza, the Wanna Play? Stage drew crowds from the international NAMM convention’s audience of 87,000 attending music retailers, media and musicians. The stage is named after NAMM’s Wanna Play? public awareness campaign, which aims to encourage more people to play musical instruments.

Kent Morris, owner and operator of Atlanta-based Cornerstone Media Group, configured the system with six Peavey® Versarray™ 112 line-array enclosures per side, backed by four Versarray 218 subwoofers per side to handle the low frequencies. Crest Audio Pro 200 Series amplifiers provided power to the entire house system, with one Pro 9200 in bridged mode assigned to each subwoofer, and Pro 7200 amps for the mid and high frequencies of the Versarray 112 line-array enclosures.

Morris employed a 48-channel Crest Audio CV-20 mixing console with 48 mono inputs and eight stereo inputs at FOH for the festival-style gig. With full VCA control and dynamics on all outputs, the CV-20 combines the best characteristics of analog and digital consoles, allowing the FOH operator the benefit of storing mix settings and the convenience of making adjustments on the fly, anywhere in the mix.

“The CV-20 gives you the best of both worlds,” Morris said. “It operates like a digital board, without the limitations of only being able to see one channel at a time. In this live festival environment, you need the ability to move very quickly from channel to channel and have instant access of any parameter. Since the CV-20 is analog, you can see everything at once.

“The CV-20’s VCA functionality also proved invaluable. There are 128 assignable scenes in the VCA, so we could store all of the possible scenarios for later recall. With only five minutes of soundcheck for each band—not to mention some unscripted moments throughout the weekend—that ability helped us make seamless transitions, and keep the client and audience happy.”

A veteran of major concert tours such as Ozzfest, Rockstar® Mayhem, and Tim McGraw, the Peavey Versarray is a professional line array utilizing 4.75″ ribbon drivers and 12″ Black Widow® speakers with dual 4″ voice coils in a push-pull arrangement. The Versarray 218 subwoofers are designed with dual 18″ Lo Max® woofers and Peavey’s patented UniVent™ venting system, an exclusive design that pumps air through the enclosure as the woofers move, maintaining cool operating temperatures, increasing reliability and reducing power compression under heavy continuous-drive conditions.

“The Versarray system performed amazingly well all weekend, no matter what we threw at it—live music performances, spoken word and program music,” said Morris. “The Versarray gets loud but stays clear because of the ribbon drivers and dual voice coil speakers. These weren’t new speakers, either; this particular system has been on the road with us for years now.”

For monitors, Morris used a Crest Audio CV-20 console with 40 mono inputs and eight stereo inputs, with audio fed to Crest Audio Pro 5200 and Pro 8200 amplifiers to power a dozen Peavey QW® Series ML and MR wedge-style stage monitors.

The crew used Peavey VSX® 26 loudspeaker management systems for front of house and three VSX 48 units for monitor speaker processing; fourteen Peavey QF™131 31-band graphic equalizers for house and monitors; six Peavey CEL-2A™ compressors; and two Peavey Dual DeltaFex® for house processing.

Peavey microphones were used for the entire event, including the PVM™ DMS-5 drum microphone kit, which packages three PVM 328 tom mikes, one PVM 325 snare mike, one PVM 321 kick drum mike, and cables and clips in a road case. The Peavey PVM 22 and PVM 46 dynamic-style microphones with diamond-coated diaphragms were used for vocals, and the PVM 45ir and PVM 480 condenser-style models were used on overhead cymbals and hi-hat. An array of Peavey PDI™ direct interface boxes were employed for acoustic guitar and keyboard.

“NAMM was very pleased with the sound quality that this system provided for the performers at the Wanna Play? Stage,” said Kevin Johnstone, director of trade shows at NAMM. “We are very grateful for our relationships with NAMM members such as Peavey and for the quality of musical experiences we can provide on this stage for NAMM Show attendees and the general public.”

About NAMM
NAMM is the not-for-profit association that unifies, leads and strengthens the $17 billion international musical instruments and products industry. NAMM’s activities and programs are designed to promote music making to people of all ages. NAMM is comprised of approximately 9,000 Member companies. For more information about NAMM or the proven benefits of making music, interested parties can visit www.namm.org or call 800-767-NAMM (6266).

 

Keiluhollin Bowling Complex, Reykjavik, Iceland

Keiluhollin Bowling Complex, Reykjavik, Iceland

Keiluhollin is a state-of-the-art bowling complex which was recently opened in the heart of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital. As well as its sizeable ten-pin bowling alley area, the 4,600 square metre facility also accommodates a restaurant, coffee shop and sports bar, each of which receives networked audio via the venue’s centralised 20-zone AV system, at the heart of which is Peavey Commercial Audio’s MediaMatrix.

Keiluhollin becomes the second major bowling complex to be opened in Reykjavik, but it’s by far the best, insists Jakob Kristinsson, whose company, ETOS, has kitted out both venues. For Keiluhollin, ETOS delegated a massive 800 hours of manpower for the design, spec, and installation, and deployed a total of 300 loudspeakers.

“In 2006 I installed a non-Peavey system into the other [bowling] venue, but now, seven years on, all three of the audio processors have broken down, so I knew I had to come up with a much more flexible solution this time round,” he explains. “It quickly became clear that the only system that would tick all the boxes was Peavey’s MediaMatrix: it’s extremely powerful; it’s reliable; and it was the only way we could guarantee perfect audio to the entire building.”

To cover the venue’s 20 ‘stereo plus subwoofer’ zones, two NION n6s were deployed along with CAB 16i and CAB 16o CobraNet breakout boxes to generate 96 analogue I/O (44 inputs and 52 outputs). 20 Crest Audio CC amplifiers were used to generate the required 64kW of power.

“With NION, you have almost endless possibilities in terms of I/O expansion: you just add on a unit, which is what we did with the CABs; also, the processing power is simply fantastic; I don’t know another system that could have dealt so easily with 20 stereo zones and subwoofers,” he continues. “I’m also really impressed with the Crest Audio CC  Amps. They’re running really well, they don’t get hot, and they also look nice, which is quite unusual for an amp!”

In addition to the overall Crestron system, Kristinsson was required to supply a backup control system which included several of Peavey’s flexible nTouch 180 and nTouch 60 touch screen controllers.

“I’m glad to say, the MediaMatrix nTouch series is easy to configure and very intuitive,” he says, “and personally it was a great opportunity for me to get acquainted with the product.”

The Crestron controller, the NIONs, and the Crest amps all talk over Ethernet on the same network. Aliases were created within the NIONs for each of the 20 zones (as well as every function), and were then handed over to the Crestron programmer who incorporated them into his programming modules.

“It’s very easy to raise the volumes or change the source anywhere within the building; all the things that you need to be able to do, you can do, thanks to this MediaMatrix system,” Kristinsson adds. “We also made Kiosk controls for the NION in two areas of the project, which work very well.”

The project was completed over a two-month period (June-Aug 2012) and everything went smoothly, Kristinsson says, though he admits he was a little nervous as to how things would turn out at the beginning, given the fact that it was his first NION project.

“You never quite know how it will go when you adopt a new product—it always feels like a bit of a gamble; but after putting faces to names when visiting the Peavey guys for a MediaMatrix Training Seminar, we were totally reassured,” he says. “The challenge was always going to be sorting out the configuration of the system, but the Peavey team helped us program the NIONs and the support in general that they provided throughout the project was second to none.”

And from an end user perspective, Keiluhollin’s manager, Agnar Fjeldsted, says he couldn’t be happier:

“The MediaMatrix system is a dream to work with; everything is so straightforward to use, and the quality of audio we have is just fantastic,” he enthuses. “We couldn’t ask for any more, really. It’s all easily accessible from our tech room, which makes workflow so simple; and I’m extremely happy overall with what we’ve managed to achieve.”

  • (2) MediaMatrix NION n6
  • (1) MediaMatrix CAB16i
  • (1) MediaMatrix CAB16o
  • (2) MediaMatrix nTouch 60
  • (1) MediaMatrix nTouch 180
  • (1) MediaMatrix GPIO-25
  • (5) Crest Audio CC1800
  • (6) Crest Audio CC2800
  • (9) Crest Audio CC4000

Beijing Capital International Airport, China

Beijing Capital International Airport, China

Beijing Capital International Airport’s massive Terminal 3 covers 10.6 million square feet, making it the second-largest airport terminal in the world. It’s also the second busiest, with a whopping 77.4 million annual customers. Managing such a high volume of traffic over that large a footprint requires an intricately distributed digital audio system.

Through the flexibility and scalability of MediaMatrix® and the networkable power of Crest Audio® amplifiers, Beijing Capital International Airport’s Terminal 3 connects more than 600 zones of audio and communications with monitoring and control for the entire facility. These zones include concourses, shuttle train platforms, luggage carousels, check-in counters, lounges, lavatories and more, in addition to 120 gates and more than 200 paging stations.

The design and operation of the Beijing International Airport T3 called for constant monitoring and auto redundant backup of all systems. To accomplish this, MediaMatrix Control Manager™ software provides monitoring and control for audio, network switches, and many other third-party devices, while a team of 260 Crest Audio Ci™ 20×8 power amplifiers outfitted with NexSys® Nx CobraNet-8 modules are deployed through the terminal.

The Crest Audio power amplifiers feature built-in monitoring of both health and audio performance such as core temperature, speaker load status and other critical values, and the NexSys Nx CobraNet-8 modules send that information over the network to Control Manager on a NION® network, allowing every amplifier channel to be constantly monitored in real time. The nControl sends communicates back through the same network to tell the amplifier to turn on/off, change the volume levels, alter signal routing between the various amplifier channels, or simply take itself offline or online when a fault may occur, allowing another amplifier to take its place to ensure the audio or messages gets through. All this is done automatically without human intervention, 24 hours a day, every day.

  • (1) MediaMatrix NION
  • (3) MediaMatrix Control Manager
  • (34) MediaMatrix NION n3 processors
  • (260) Crest Audio Ci 20×8 power amplifiers
  • (260) Crest Audio NexSys

MediaMatrix® proves a class act at Birmingham Hippodrome

MediaMatrix® proves a class act at Birmingham Hippodrome

Birmingham Hippodrome is one of the largest touring theatres in the UK. MediaMatrix from Peavey is widely used in some of the most prestigious corporate and leisure installations in the world, including Heathrow Airport, Wembley Stadium, Ascot Racecourse and the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, with Birmingham Hippodrome being a recent addition to the long list of venues benefi ting from the industry’s leading pro-audio matrix solution.

THE CHALLENGE
Following an extensive £34m development at the turn of the millennium, Birmingham Hippodrome now ranks as one the fi nest theatre complexes in the world, with a 1,847-seat auditorium, eight hospitality and conference rooms, an additional 206-seat studio theatre, 120-cover restaurant, large new front of house areas, spacious foyers, a deli-bar and off-site bar and restaurant.
 
It is the largest independent theatre outside of London and regularly welcomes audiences of 500,000 each year – the highest attendance fi gures of any single theatre in the UK.
 
To further enhance the theatre experience, investment was made to give Birmingham Hippodrome a state-of-the-art audio management system. The aim was to provide the numerous areas of the theatre with fl exible audio control, allowing staff to conveniently manage volume levels and content, as well as
provide versatility to rooms that may need dedicated audio facilities for presentations or private hire.
 
THE SOLUTION
To meet the demand for fl exibility and total control, Birmingham Hippodrome opted for the proven combination of Peavey’s Media Matrix solution, coupled with AMX hardware, with end user operation available from either an Android device, fi xed wall points, or AMX wallmounted touchscreens.
 
The project was managed by Birmingham Hippodrome and installed by highly experienced audio visual integrators, InspiretechLtd. Via a secure login, Birmingham Hippodrome’s technical team can also access the system remotely, meaning any issues can be conveniently dealt with wherever they are.
 
With a MediaMatrix Nion N6 unit providing the brains for the venue’s audio, the solution allows for a centralised source for audio throughout four main zones in the theatre, with ability for content and level confi guration. Using CAB-4n units, all end-points can be set up in groups of four channels for microphone or line level in any of the available confi gurations. This, in turn, provides total versatility for bringing professional audio to any of the venue’s numerous hospitality and conference rooms. Inspiretech Ltd managing director, Andy Wilmott, says: “For the technical team, each end-point is, effectively, like having a full mixing desk at your fi ngertips. But for front of house operators, they just need to know that when they press a volume button, it functions correctly.”
 
He added: “I have been installing MediaMatrix into venues ranging from shopping centres to football stadiums for over ten years. I have also installed MediaMatrix on cruise ships, which can be a pretty harsh environment, and it just runs and runs. The integration with systems such as AMX works really well. For reliability and integration, MediaMatrix is top of the tree.”
 
THE RESULT
Birmingham Hippodrome can now boast the most cutting edge audio visual solution of any theatre in the country. As well as providing key areas such as the restaurant and foyers with end user control via a tablet device, the system also provides the Hippodrome’s technical team with total audio control at any one of up to 28 end-points.
 
Andy Willmott explains: “The restaurant manager, for example, will have management of his volume levels, but the system can be told to control levels and content in that area if required; for example, if there was an event taking place adjacent to the restaurant. The process is quick, reliable and hassle free.”
 
With such a user-friendly interface, staff at the venue have taken quickly to the new technology. Using Peavey’s award-winning Kiosk2Go software, and leveraging the power of HTML5, any control interface that a designer creates using the MediaMatrix can be accessed wirelessly with any Android, iOS (Apple), Blackberry, Windows or Linux mobile device. Paul Keogh, technical coordinator at Birmingham Hippodrome, says: “Such are the benefi ts that the system brings to user operation and system management that we are now being asked to consult at other theatres on their installations.”
 
Mark Coombes, European sales manager for Peavey, said: “We are delighted to see, and hear, MediaMatrix in one of the fi nest theatres in the world. The quality of the installation from Inspiretech Ltd is fantastic and we are proud to add Birmingham Hippodrome to our long list of prestige venues around the globe enjoying Peavey commercial audio.”

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Bellagio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, USA

Bellagio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, USA

When tourists flock to the Las Vegas Strip’s world-famous Fountains of Bellagio at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, Crest Audio® and MediaMatrix® are there to help bring the magic to the most celebrated free attraction on the Las Vegas Strip.

This 8 1/2-acre body of water that welcomes visitors to the Bellagio features more than 1,200 water cannons, including 16 “extreme shooters” capable of sending water streams up to 500 feet in the air, as well as a mood-setting fog system and nearly 5,000 lights to illuminate the
display seven nights a week. Each fountain is programmed and maintained by a team of 30 specialists, and in its 14 years of operation, the Fountains of Bellagio have never missed a show due to a technical issue.

A team of Crest Audio networkable power amplifiers provide rock-solid, high-quality sound reinforcement for the Fountains of Bellagio. The system includes 79 Crest Audio CKi™ 800V amps, 21 CKi 1600V amps, two CKi 800S amps, and one CKi 1600S amp, all of which are outfitted with Nx Ethernet cards for networking with the Peavey® MediaMatrix® NION® n6 processor. With the ability to deliver audio via CobraNet and control on one CAT-5 cable, the CKi series gives contractors and system designers an ultra-scalable system capable of economically powering anything from the smallest building to the largest theme park or stadium.

“Crest Audio power amplifiers have a reputation for reliability in the field, and that has proven true here at the Bellagio,” said Art Martinez, Sales Manager at Kelly Technologies. “Crest Audio’s CKi networkable amplifiers allow us to manage and control hundreds of loudspeakers
through each individual amplifier by interfacing with the MediaMatrix NION.”

  • (79)Crest Audio CKi 800V power amplifiers
  • (21)Crest Audio CKi 1600V power amplifiers
  • (2) Crest Audio CKi 800S power amplifiers
  • (1) Crest Audio CKi 1600S power amplifiers
  • (1) MediaMatrix NION n6 processor

BC Place, Vancouver, Canada

BC Place, Vancouver, Canada

BC Place stadium has been a part of Vancouver’s skyline for more than 25 years, hosting live events from the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic games to sold-out Rolling Stones concerts. But as time and technology marched forward, this 60,000-seater remained virtually unchanged. When it came time to update the venerable BC Place, its directors invested in a completely modern renovation, including the largest retractable roof in the world and the most powerful installed P.A. system in North America.

 
This incredibly powerful sound system is based on a MediaMatrix® NION® distributed digital audio system that controls and monitors 150 power amplifiers. It’s also the first hybrid project that uses Audinate’s Dante protocol to make two different systems communicate with each other. MediaMatrix delivers the program audio via the Dante transport protocol to the power amplifiers and provides control and monitoring of individual amplifier outputs back to the system operator. The MediaMatrix nControl™ allows the system operators to listen to the audio from any amplifier in any zone in the facility, and passes control information to the various NIONs in the system through project linking, which allows the system to be broken apart into logical sections that can operate independently of one another.
 

The main audio system consists of two NION n3 processors, plus another pair for backup and six NION nX processors for output monitoring. When implemented intelligently and logically, this type of design can allow a system to be considerably more robust and allow planned downtime in parts of the system while not affecting the functionality of the overall system.

The Dante transport protocol, operating in compliance with TCP/IP and a standard UTP packet structure, allows the networked audio and control data to be concentrated on fiber links to simplify distribution to remote amp racks in the arena’s overhead catwalks.

  • (6) MediaMatrix NION n3 Dante DSP
  • (6) MediaMatrix NION nX DSP
  • (1) MediaMatrix nControl

Southwest Airlines Corporate Headquarters, Dallas, USA

Southwest Airlines Corporate Headquarters, Dallas, USA

Building strong customer relations has been a key factor in the success of Southwest Airlines,so when the 40-year-old global company set out to redesign its corporate headquarters,communications were a high priority. The extensive renovation encompassed several key areasof the Southwest Airlines facility in Dallas, Texas, including the Executive Boardroom, Freedom Hall, The Landing, and a matrix of training rooms—all configured and controlled by MediaMatrix® NION® distributed digital audio systems.
 

Measuring 60 feet by 30 feet, the Executive Boardroom is the primary meeting location forthe company’s executive team. Beneath its visual amenities such as digital projection andplasma displays is a MediaMatrix NION-based audio system programmed to mix and amplifyspeech so that the farther away a speaker moves from the audience, the more of that person’svoice comes out of the speakers. Such a sophisticated design guarantees speech clarity and intelligibility.

Freedom Hall serves as the main hub of internal and external communications, with a mix of applications ranging from web-streamed employee meetings to press conferences with full media support. MediaMatrix NION configures and controls the room’s audio system, including 60 push-to-talk microphones.

A network of seven presentation and training rooms can be used separately or joined, and can also serve as overflow seating for Freedom Hall—even though they are not located adjacent to each other. MediaMatrix can virtually combine or separate the rooms’ audio systems, allowing Southwest’s team to achieve multiple purposes.

MediaMatrix NION is also the audio centerpiece of The Landing, a common area that overlooks the Dallas Love Field runway. This large, open space is used as a cafeteria, a reception area for flight attendant graduations, and other large functions.

  • (4) MediaMatrix NION n3 processors
  • (4) MediaMatrix NIO-8ml input cards
  • (4) MediaMatrix NIO-8o output cards
  • (6) MediaMatrix CAB 4n audio bridges
  • (3) MediaMatrix CAB 16o audio bridges
  • (6) MediaMatrix MM4 Out cards
  • (18) MediaMatrix MM AEC 4 echo cancellation cards

Qatar National Convention Center

Qatar National Convention Center

Located minutes from Qatar’s central business district in the heart of Education City, a global hub of ideas and innovation including elite universities, research and technology institutions, the new Qatar National Convention Centre is an unparalleled modern convention facility,
boasting iconic design and cutting-edge facilities in a world-first green-technology venue.

This world-class space—the first of its kind built to the gold certification of U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED)—features a distributed audio and video system anchored by MediaMatrix® that connects QNCC’s 431,000 square feet of exhibition hall, 52 meeting rooms and public spaces that span luxury lounges, hospitality suites, exhibition foyers, a 2,300-seat theater and three additional tiered auditoriums.

Such a varied-use complex required support for all manner of digital audio—everything from background music to broadcast—and every area needed central as well as local control capabilities. With 82 MediaMatrix NION® n3 processors and 91 CAB™ 4n units connected over
CobraNet, the audio enginners at QNCC can send audio to any location on the network. More than 150 miles of fiber optic cabling connect the outlying systems to a central room where the audio team can also monitor the condition and status of power amplifiers on the network.

“The MediaMatrix NIONs are the backbone of the system,” said Ahmed Abdel Kadar, projects engineer with Techno Q in an interview with Pro Audio Middle East. “They can combine the whole building so you can, for example, have one source and send it to any room.”

  • (82) MediaMatrix NION n3 processors
  • (91) MediaMatrix CAB 4n

Florida House of Representatives, USA

Florida House of Representatives, USA

When the gavel sounds in the Florida House of Representatives, a MediaMatrix® NION® audio system is ready to help the on-site techs manage the session’s demanding schedule through atouch-screen interface developed in NWare™ Kiosk software.Four NION n6 digital signal processors and sixteen CAB™ 8i audio bridges control and distributeaudio for the chamber’s 128 member microphones and the Speaker of the House – as well assome AV components – through a 140 input by 16 output configuration.
 

NWare Kiosk, a version of the free MediaMatrix software for NION Series products, allows installers to configure custom control interfaces for specific projects and then send them to laptops, iOS devices, or in this case, a 40 inch touch screen. With this in-depth interface, the on-site techs at the Florida House of Representatives can control every facet of the audio system on the fly, from turning microphones on and off to making level adjustments, all at a moment’s notice.

“When the Speaker of the House recognizes a Representative, the audio guys have maybe one second to turn on that person’s microphone,” said system designer and installer Les Stephenson of MusicMasters in Tallahassee. “It’s a very demanding environment.”

The interface designed in NWare Kiosk also makes it easy to track a meeting or session. A tech can search alphabetically for a representative’s name or simply touch the corresponding icon on the screen to turn on or shut off that person’s microphone. Stephenson built the graphic interface to allow system administrators to enter new names and makes changes as needed, as well as handle other scenarios such as meetings that are run by numbers – one for each of the 128 seats.

The multi-speaker system is also configured in the NION environment, including zone assignment, time alignment, crossover, EQ and more. The ability of the system to interface with the chamber’s existing relays and TTL infrastructure was another important consideration in the project.

  • (4) MediaMatrix NION n6
  • (16) MediaMatrix CAB 8i
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