Inspired by its beauty and cultural significance, a local non-profit raised the funds necessary to turn it into a community event space. After two years of extensive renovations, Community Courtyard opened in the late 1990s. Until this year however, users had to bring their own sound reinforcement systems to their events. Kansas City A/V integration firm Advanced Sound & Communication changed that with a system centred on an Ashly Audio Pema 4250.70 combo Protea matrix digital processor and four-channel amplifier.
"They had no house PA, no zoning, nothing," explained Brent Handy, consultant, designer, and engineer with Advanced Sound & Communication, sister company to Kansas City's largest and longest family-owned music store, Big Dude's Music City. "They needed a system that would sound great, but that would require absolutely no technical ability on the part of the user. We've installed lots of Ashly equipment and several Ashly Pemas, and we've had absolutely no problems with any of them. That's the kind of reliability we want for a job like this."
The system is effective but simple. There are just two zones in the 15,000sq.ft facility - one upstairs and one downstairs. Each zone has identical inputs from a Radial Engineering StageBug SB5W Wall-mounted direct box: RCA inputs and a 1/8-inch jack. Moreover, the SB5W has a simple volume control that truly any user can wrap their head around.
In addition, each floor has a dedicated AudioTechnica ATW-1322 wireless microphone, which Handy and his crew adjusted to an ideal volume using the Ashly Pema 4250.70's gain sharing auto-mixing feature. Moreover, the Pema's ducking function allows the microphone to override the input panel for announcements and pages. The Pema's four 250-Watt channels power six Community CS6 surface-mount loudspeakers across both floors, with protection from the Pema's brick wall limiter.
(Jim Evans)
