Located in Universal City, California, the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk has been a state-of-the-art indoor venue since 1982. The amphitheatre has long been known for its sightlines and outstanding acoustics, a reputation that has been upheld and enhanced with the recent installation.
To date, Sound Image has installed 42 Crown I-Tech 800 amplifiers outfitted with HiQnet technology, along with 24 JBL Vertec VT4889 line array loudspeakers, eight Vertec VT4888 line array loudspeakers, 24 Vertec VT4880 line array subwoofers, and four Vertec VT4888DP Series loudspeakers with DrivePack technology.
"It is an honor to announce that the prestigious Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk is the first North American HiQnet installation," said Mark Terry, president of the Harman Pro Group. "The versatility of the Harman HiQnet protocol, used in conjunction with Harman Pro brand products, ensures the amphitheatre's reputation for leading-edge sound will continue. We expect the adoption of HiQnet systems to grow dramatically as projects such as this raise the profile of HiQnet's capabilities."
Harman HiQnet enables users to maximize system configuration and control of products for the entire family of Harman brands. Compatible with UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) standard, HiQnet allows users to quickly and efficiently connect a network of HiQnet-compatible components. Standardized tuning can also be established for HiQnet-compatible JBL Professional loudspeaker. In addition, HiQnet can be controlled from a Studer Vista 8 and future HiQnet-compatible consoles.
A critical aspect of HiQnet is its ability to detect which types of connections are being used in a given system. To accomplish this, the Harman Pro Group's elite System Development and Integration Group (SDIG) developed HiQnet drivers for sending audio and control data seamlessly over any standards-based network protocol - be it Ethernet, Serial, USB.
The Harman Pro Group has also announced two other firsts for HiQnet: Hong Kong Stadium has become the site of Asia's first HiQnet installation, designed and implemented by Hong Kong-based Advanced Communications Equipment (ACE), and the new 32,000-seat Stade de Suisse in Switzerland sees the first European deployment of HiQnet, installed by the leading Swiss engineering firm Marazzi AG.
(Lee Baldock)
