Petawawa is located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. The town lies on the west bank of the Ottawa River, at the confluence of the Petawawa River. The Civic Centre is the town's recreational hub, with its vicinity incorporating an arena, library, playground, soccer field, hockey arena, curling baseball field, miniature golf course and a large children's playground amongst its numerous leisure amenities.
Like all large open areas with multiple outdoor activities taking place concurrently there was a need to be able to inform the public in the event of an incident or emergency. This could range from warning of a fast approaching storm, such as a tornado like the town had previously experienced, to a lost child. The area to be covered was several acres, with a length of almost half a mile.
With a limited budget Mike Montaigne opted for a point source system as the most cost-efficient solution and, after researching all options, determined that the entire area could be covered effectively by a single Community RSH-462 loudspeaker system mounted directly on the front of the Civic Centrebuilding.
The all-weather RSH-462 uses four of Community's proprietary M200 ferrofluid-cooled compression drivers in an exponential FocusedArray horn system, capable of peak sound pressure levels of 150dB within a 60 degree horizontal by 20 degree vertical coverage pattern.
"Loudspeaker positioning was critical and the end-results are truly impressive," continued Mr. Montaigne. "Voice is loud and clear with high intelligibility across the whole area, even at the busiest times during multiple events."
(Jim Evans)
