CARROLLTON, GEORGIA: Carrollton High School in Carrollton, Georgia is an exemplary institution. It has earned the Georgia School of Excellence Award three times, and its innovative (and demonstrably effective) approach has been highlighted by U.S. News & World Report. Recognizing that its infrastructure is critical to its success, Carrollton High School recently undertook a $1.5 million renovation of its aging gymnasium. In addition to comprehensive structural work guided by Southern A&E (Austell, Georgia), the renovation included an all-new sound reinforcement system designed and installed by Performa Technologies (Millbrook, Alabama). To address the school’s longstanding complaints about indistinct, unintelligible gymnasium sound, Performa President LaDon Findley specified Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers and subwoofers because of their remarkable pattern control and fidelity.

The gym seats approximately 1,750 students for basketball games, other sporting events, or assemblies. Although the school considered leaving the old gymnasium as it was and building an entirely new facility, it didn’t have the real estate. “The economically sensible thing to do was to gut the old gym,” said Findley. The overhaul included a new hardwood floor, new bleachers, new lighting, a new HVAC system, a new lobby, a new concessions area, and updated lockers and restrooms. “The sound system was critical,” explained Findley. “The school had received innumerable complaints in the past about the terrible acoustics. It was a tremendous challenge to understand what the announcer was saying.”

Part of the solution involved damping the room itself. The ceiling now supports Auralex ProBanners, which cut down noticeably on the room’s otherwise lingering reverb. Although they considered treating the walls as well, Findley realized that Danley Sound Labs offered an effective, and ultimately more economical solution. “Two of the hallmarks of Danley’s designs are well-defined pattern control and distortion-free reproduction at any volume,” he said. “I knew we would be able to keep the direct energy off the walls and focused on the bleachers, which did away the need for costly wall treatments. Moreover, Danley’s great fidelity directed at the bleachers would improve intelligibility in its own right.”

In the center of the gymnasium, Performa Technologies installed four Danley SM-96 molded-horn, full-range loudspeakers. Two address the home-team bleachers and two address the visitor’s side. To either side, an additional SM-96, paired with a Danley TH-MINI subwoofer, delivers stereo content to the larger home-team side. Eight Danley SH-MINIs provide delay coverage of the uppermost bleachers. A Yamaha IMX644 rack-mounted mixer gathers input from microphones and music playback devices and, via two Crestron touch-panel controllers, allows scene changes and output configurations appropriate for the room’s multiple uses. A Danley DSLP48 processor provides loudspeaker and subwoofer conditioning. Crest amplifiers power the system. And lastly, a local RF transmitter provides output for the hearing impaired.

“Carrollton High School is jubilant about the new, intelligible sound system,” reported Findley. “It’s a complete turnaround.” In addition, the school now has flat screen monitors placed throughout the atrium and concessions area so that fans won’t miss a minute of the on-court action. A state-of-the-art scoreboard with video playback completes the upgrade from a rickety past to a well-tuned future.

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

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Perimeter Church in suburban Atlanta, Georgia does a fantastic job of ministering in a way that connects emotionally and culturally with all members of the church community. Middle and high schoolers attend services in The Hanger, a 1,000-seat sanctuary devoted to the themes that resonate with the unique challenges and aesthetics of young adults. However, in the five long years since its completion, The Hanger has suffered from grossly inadequate sound reinforcement, including poor coverage and anemic bass. To remedy the situation, Perimeter technical director Steve Simmons designed and installed a Danley Sound Labs-based system that now delivers even coverage and enough clean, undistorted bass to “knock the breath out of you,” in Simmons’ words.

“The original system was terrible from day one,” Simmons said. “We had a left-center-right system, but each cluster was comprised of boxes that worked poorly together. If you were in the beam of some components, you got boomy, indistinct low-end. Other components conveyed the high-end, but not with the same coverage pattern. As a result, there were only a few select seats that got anything close to a balanced frequency response. The rest rode complex peaks and valleys of sound pressure and pass band.” In addition, the floor-mounted subs were spaced improperly and thus contributed a floppy, interference-riddled bass response to the existing full range mess.

Danley Sound Labs, headquartered in nearby Gainesville, lent Simmons a few full-range boxes so that he could prove his models. After a bit of tweaking, he settled on left-right coverage delivered by one Danley SH-96 flown wide on each side, with a paired Danley SH-95 turned on its side to provide near-wall fill. “It’s amazing that the old system required numerous units and still failed to cover the room, while Danley managed to do it with basically two boxes,” said Simmons. The center cluster, which is used primarily for spoken word, is comprised of three Danley SH-50 full-range loudspeakers in a tight pack that delivers truly seamless coverage to the entire room.

“The old system used a first-generation DSP that has a well-known problem with a high-frequency oscillation,” said Simmons. “We could hear it if we wore headphones or when the room was empty or if we were concentrating. But when the Danleys came on line, it was immediately apparent… and horrible. It just about drove us from the room. Of course, that’s a testament to the honest and extended high-frequency response of the Danley product, but it also meant we had to get a new DSP stat!” Fortunately, Perimeter’s large campus and system of satellite sites requires a certain amount of gear-on-hand. Simmons replaced the old DSP with a Biamp Audia DSP that he plans to replace when new 2012 models hit the streets. Crown Macro-Tech 5000i amplifiers provide power to the system.

Perimeter’s store of goods helped out a youth conference at The Hanger a few months in advance of the full system renovation. Simmons pulled two Danley TH-115 subwoofers from Perimeter’s standing stock and flew them over the center of the sanctuary. “It was a dramatic improvement,” he said. “We were able to drop the rest of the system by 6dB, but everyone commented that the system sounded louder… and better.” For the full renovation, Simmons added two Danley TH-118s to those boxes for a total of four coupled Danley subwoofers. “It’s very powerful and very even,” he commented. “We now have the percussive, dynamic low end that I had always hoped for.”

The new system is winning Danley adherents. “We have so many services, programs, and events, that we have a crew of technicians,” Simmons explained. “A job candidate spent a couple of weekends mixing in our main sanctuary, which does not have Danley boxes and is quite difficult to mix in. The third week, we asked him to mix in The Hanger. He had never mixed on Danley boxes before, and after the service I got a text from him that said simply, ‘I heart Danley forever.’ When I spoke with him later, he noted that he was able to clearly hear a 1dB EQ boost – the kind of thing that is lost in any other system.” In contrast to the peaks and valleys of the old system, the Danley system is tremendously even. One can walk from wall to wall, and the sound pressure and frequency response is consistent. There are other benefits, too. The Danley clusters, despite their vastly improved performance, are one third the size of the original clusters, and while the old system was constantly cranked, the Danley’s are attenuated by 20dB and still produce enough output to keep the youth jumping in their seats.

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

LAKELAND, FLORIDA: Known as one of Central Florida’s most venerable entertainment complexes, The Lakeland Center challenges the notion that a facility can’t be all things to all people. The sprawling complex includes venues for sports, entertainment, events, meetings and hospitality and despite the breadth of offerings The Lakeland Center consistently exceeds the expectations of its clients, attendees and guests. Creating such a professional atmosphere requires tremendous flexibility on the part of The Lakeland Center’s facilities and staff, a fact underscored by its recent upgrade to a Symetrix Room Combine 788 processor in one of its three modular meeting/event spaces. The Symetrix Room Combine 788 allows The Lakeland Center’s technical staff to merge or split any combination of rooms using an intuitive interface, with comprehensive, high-fidelity signal processing as a bonus!

Using air walls, the 25,000 square-foot facility divides into as many as eight separate spaces of varying size. The old room combiner was installed in the mid-1990s and operated on outdated mechanical relays. “It worked okay,” said Joseph Havens, the technical director at The Lakeland Center. “We installed it and used its limited flexibility to create a few common configurations. It had no DSP and no analog processing of any kind. Recently, the unit gave up the ghost.” Havens removed its carcass and committed to finding a modern replacement.

Based on its flexibility and power, he chose the purpose-built Symetrix Room Combine 788, which takes up to twelve inputs and matrix mixes them into eight outputs. “As many of the technicians on my staff do not have expertise in the arena of installed sound, I had to have a combiner that was intuitive to operate,” said Havens. “The user interface on the 788 is second to none. The new system is very friendly and not at all intimidating.” Indeed, Symetrix’ simple-to-use software allowed Havens to draw a schematic of the event space on the user interface with each of the eight smaller sections outlined. To combine or un-combine sections, his technicians simply highlight the relevant sections on the schematic.

To allow clients a measure of control, Havens positioned a Symetrix ARC-K1 rotary encoder in each of the eight sections to control volume. Because each ARC-K1 receives its power and communicates with the Room Combine 788 via a single Cat5 cable, the installation was painless. “At each position, we used the cable from the old system to pull a fresh Cat5 into place,” said Havens.” That allowed us to keep the power supply in the main rack with the 788. The ARC-K1s communicate with the processor and, ultimately, each other (their controls become redundant when sections are combined) via a star topology. It couldn’t have been easier.”

Although The Lakeland Center was, first and foremost, installing a new room combiner, it received a hi-fi bump as a bonus. “The existing loudspeakers and amps were in good shape, so we left them alone,” said Havens. “Nevertheless, just hooking up the Symetrix Room Combine 788, without turning any processing on, significantly improved the system’s fidelity. Before, it had always had that ‘ceiling speaker’ sound, with an emphasis on the midrange. Now it was fuller and richer.” Havens didn’t stop there however, he used the Room Combine 788′s collection of filters, equalizers, and dynamics processors to dial in an even finer sound.

Havens’ experience installing the Symetrix Room Combine 788 was so pleasant, and the functionality it affords The Lakeland Center is so substantial, he now plans to preempt failures in the center’s two other large, combinable event/meeting spaces by installing 788s there as well. “In those spaces, we’ll definitely take advantage of the unit’s ability to combine non-adjacent rooms,” he said.

ABOUT SYMETRIX Sound professionals rely upon the performance, value and reliability of audio mixing, routing and processing products from Symetrix. For more information on Symetrix professional audio products, please visit www.symetrix.co or call +1.425.778.7728.

—Xantech WIC1200 Web Intelligent Controller and CWTC10 Wireless Touch Controllers create a reliable, scalable and intuitive control system for audio and video —

CARLSBAD, CA, January 4, 2012 — Xantech, a leader in the field of audio/video remote control and distribution, provided the core technology systems that enabled the “strength and conditioning” training room at United States Naval Academy’s Ricketts Hall to become an advanced state-of-the-art facility. As part of a technology upgrade, AV systems integrator DSL Sound of Hagerstown, Maryland, installed a Xantech control system consisting of the WIC1200 Web Intelligent Controller, two CWTC10 Wireless Touch Controllers, CSPLCD64G in-wall touch panels and a host of IPRS232 XtraLink IP modules.

The network-based Xantech components provide full control over the weight rooms’ new AV systems, which include an HD Video Matrix system by FSR®, 16 55-inch LG® plasma monitors that make up five zones of video, and an extensive audio system throughout the facility, featuring the BiAmp® Nexia networked digital audio processor. Xantech’s IPRS232 units enable network control of the RS232-based LG monitors; user control is totally accessible via the Xantech CWTC10 10.4-inch WiFi tablets located in the weight room itself and in a control rack. Additionally, users can access the system remotely via iPad or remotely via a dedicated VPN network installed as part of the AV upgrade. This is all made possible through the rich feature set of the WIC1200.

Ricketts Hall is home to U.S.N.A.’s basketball, football and lacrosse team training offices, the locker room for the varsity football team, and the “strength and conditioning facility,” one of three on campus. The new Xantech-controlled audio and video system plays back content including customized weight training video programs, room and conditioning schedules, football and other sports videos, and other related content, stored on a custom computer system with RAID drives and six HDMI video outputs. Multiple screens over five video zones allow for multiple streams of content simultaneously, all controlled and distributed by the Xantech equipment.

“This is the first time we’ve deployed the Xantech systems, and they are working wonderfully, especially considering that no one’s ever put this advanced level of AV systems control into a weight room before,” comments Robert Musser, Sales & Engineering Specialist for DSL Sound. “We were looking for a control solution that was reliable, scalable and affordable, and the WIC1200 succeeded on all counts. It can be controlled via RS-232 wired connections using the IPRS232 XtraLink IP and via iPads remotely on the VPN and it can expand as the system needs to grow. The graphical user interface is especially good, and we were able to create a practical and intuitive control surface that’s easy to use. We definitely plan to use the Xantech equipment again in the future. It’s that good.”

For more information, please visit www.xantechcommercial.com.

Winter NAMM Debut for Powerful New Analog Bass Synthesizer

ASHEVILLE, NC – Jan, 4 2012 — Moog Music has announced the release of Minitaur, the newest addition to Moog’s Taurus Bass Synthesizer family. Minitaur is a compact and powerful analog bass synthesizer that features a classic one knob per function layout. Most notably, it is the first instrument in the Taurus family that does not have foot pedals. At only 8.5″ x 5.25″ and less than 3lbs, the Minitaur puts powerful analog Moog bass into a package designed to fit seamlessly into today’s performance and production environments. The Minitaur will be introduced at Winter NAMM Booth #5000 at the Anaheim Convention Center, January 19-22, 2012.

The release of Minitaur marks the next chapter in the Taurus family history, by introducing a new form factor, control interface and increased level of accessibility. “The Minitaur has all the growl, snarl and body associated with the Taurus family of bass synthesizers. We’re really excited to be able to offer this in such a compact package that is both immediately playable as an extremely versatile analog synth and also integrates seamlessly into the world of MIDI and USB control environments,” says Cyril Lance, Chief Engineer of Moog Music.

The Taurus Bass Pedals enjoy a nearly 40-year history and have made a seismic impact in the music world since their introduction in the mid-Seventies. “The Taurus opened up so many possibilities for me…it also opened up a whole way of looking at what I do,” says Geddy Lee, of the multi-platinum band Rush.

In 2009, Moog Music released the Taurus 3 Bass Pedals, a modern reinterpretation of the classic Taurus Bass Pedals. The Taurus 3 is currently used by artists such as The Black Keys, Animal Collective, Jean Michel Jarre, Yes, Weezer, Rush, and The Dave Matthews Band.

Since the inception of Moog Music, Bob Moog tested his ideas, instruments and sounds on musicians as a key part of the product development process. In keeping with this tradition, Minitaur has been presented to a broad array of producers, artists and songwriters including Geddy Lee of Rush, techno legend Derrick May, Flying Lotus, Moby and renowned record producer Nick Raskulinecz as a part of the final product development process. The enthusiastic response from these artists marks the beginning of the next generation in the Taurus Bass Synthesizer line.

Minitaur Features Include:
• Compact rugged steel chassis
• One knob per function interface
• Two ultra stable oscillators with Sawtooth and Square waveshapes
• Classic Taurus Style Moog ladder filter
• Two Minimoog-style Envelope generators for modulating VCF and VCA
• Midi-syncable LFO with Controls for Rate, VCO LFO Amount, and VCF LFO Amount
• DIN MIDI and MIDI over USB
• Analog Control inputs for pitch, filter, volume and gate
• External audio input
• Headphone output

Photo: Moog Music Inc. will introduce the Minitaur Analog Bass Synthesizer at Winter NAMM Booth #5000 in the Anaheim Convention Center, Jan. 19 – 22, 2012.

Shipping in Spring 2012
Price: $679

Links
• Minitaur Product Page: www.moogmusic.com/products/taurus/minitaur
• Minitaur Demo Video: http://www.moogmusic.com/sight-and-sound/product_demo/introducing-minitaur
• Moog Music website: http://www.moogmusic.com/
• Moog Music on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/MoogMusicInc/
• Moog Music on Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/MoogMusicInc/

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About Moog Music:
Moog Music synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments are designed and lovingly handcrafted in the Moog factory in downtown Asheville, N.C. Moog Music and its customers carry on the legacy of Dr. Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer and Founder of Moog Music Inc.

Rio Rancho, NM – Winter NAMM Booth# 6329, Hall A… Lectrosonics, recognized the world over as a leading manufacturer of wireless microphone systems and audio processing products, will be conducting all demonstrations at the company’s booth during the forthcoming Winter NAMM show using the acclaimed Quadra IEM system—enabling studio-quality musical demonstrations without the ‘noise’ commonly associated with the show. Keenly aware of the elevated SPL (sound pressure level) level on the show floor, the use of the Quadra IEM highlights the effectiveness of the product while simultaneously enabling the company to be a ‘good neighbor’ to others in attendance. more