D.A.S. Audio on board the Carnival Conquest
- Details
North Miami, FL headquartered Control AV, an AV system design / build firm that specialises in entertainment technology projects for cruise ships and other specialist applications, was contracted to design and deploy the new sound reinforcement setup for the ship’s outdoor theatre. Ultimately, the firm installed 16 D.A.S. WR-320FXW installation line arrays and four WR-S218FXW subwoofers. Amir El Yordi, President of Control AV LLC, discussed the job and his reasons for selecting D.A.S. Audio equipment.
“Carlos Morales, our company’s technical director, and Carlos Obando, Control AV’s project manager, were the two lead people on this project, together with their Carnival counterparts; Timothy McCormick, entertainment technical project manager, and Jeff Irving, manager-entertainment technical operations-audio,” El Yordi explained.
“The ship’s outdoor screen features a large, stunning LED video wall and the new loudspeakers are integrated into the sides of the screen. Being an outdoor venue, it was crucial for the new sound system to be weatherised so as to minimise vulnerability to moisture typically encountered by any ocean-going vessel. Equally important, we needed a system able to project over a large area that was also capable of maintaining a high level of speech intelligibility and music reproduction characteristics while ‘competing’ with surrounding sounds and, of course, the water.”
Visually, the D.A.S. Audio loudspeakers blend seamlessly into the screen’s overall visual aesthetic. The screen has a white frame that surrounds the top and sides of the LED video wall.
On both the left and right sides of the display, the Control AV installation team positioned eight D.A.S. WR-320FXW installation line arrays in a vertical cluster. For low frequency support, these two loudspeaker clusters are augmented with two WR-S218FXW subwoofers - vertically positioned underneath each cluster of eight line array loudspeakers. Both the line arrays and the subwoofers were factory painted white to blend into the overall design of the screen area. The D.A.S. Audio WR Series loudspeakers are specifically designed and engineered for weather resistance and extended durability in extreme environments.
The installation of the ship’s new loudspeaker system took place during late October and early November of 2017. The equipment was immediately placed into service thereafter and, since that time, has generated numerous compliments. “After more than two months, the system is proving itself well-suited for the sometimes-challenging shipboard conditions,” El Yordi reports. “Audio quality is terrific and there hasn’t been even the slightest visible or perceived degradation of its performance from the environment. Our client is very pleased.”
(Jim Evans)
