The Heritage Motor Centre is home to the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, which maintains the largest collection of classic vintage and veteran British cars in the world. A soundproof, sliding partition transforms the conference and exhibition suite quickly and easily into two conference rooms each seating 250 delegates. Both conference rooms are equipped with fully independent audio-visual facilities and special lighting. Each room contains an EVO system that comprises of four EVO speakers, an EVO Net Controller and an EVO Mixing Desk.
The two rooms can also be combined to form one large room (seating up to 600 delegates) and therefore requires a flexible AV installation. The two EVO systems can be linked together and either of the main racks can be used as the 'master rack' providing the input source. Changing the configuration of the room inevitably changes its acoustical properties and its AV requirements. The EVO systems can adjust themselves to suit the changing environments both in terms of equalization (to flatten the frequency response for each room configuration) and delay (to ensure time in the correct direction for each orientation).
Project designer and manager John Matcham explained that they wanted to build a system that was completely secure so there was no sound 'leakage' between the partitioned rooms. It needed to be powerful but not compromise the clarity and quality of sound when run at low levels. Matcham found that EVO, being "powerful, precise and with a great range" was the only system that could achieve this and quoted that the "service from Arbiter was really very good."
The inputs and outputs are controlled by two multi level access BSS Soundweb digital audio matrix processors that also provide different levels of password access so the systems are engineer or amazingly 'DIY operable'.
Museum manager Jeff Coope has found that this is a very cost effective system. When the function room is set up by external audio companies, these companies always want to use the EVO speakers (due to their quality of sound) but feel they have to justify their existence by bringing in some of their own equipment; in reality, there is no real reason for them at the motor museum anymore.
Installation Technologies produced a six-set configuration for the museum engineers who have had training but are not AV engineers themselves: they "love it" and they can now set up and configure the entire system in less than 60 seconds.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
