Adlib was awarded the contract for the new £10m MMU SU Building, which is situated adjacent to the Union's Salutation pub, based on their design recommendations, and the relationship that has developed since the company first started supporting MMU with equipment rental and sales.
Overseen by Adlib's Ian Nelson, the design concept is aimed to maximise multiple use of a building involving a bar, multipurpose entertainment space, admin offices, a shop, café and conferencing facilities. The system will cater for student union events, from comedy and club nights though to conferences and exhibitions, and be able to cope with numerous room layouts.
JBL's AM5212 and 5215 were specified to define the required coverage patterns. "The AM Series was chosen as it provided the best combination of performance and price when compared to a number of competitors' products," said Nelson. "As the majority of the control and amplification system were Harman products it made sense to keep all of the audio equipment under the one banner to allow for ease of system integration and processing."
The six dual 18in ASB6128 subwoofers are positioned at the sides of the room in three rows of two - one at each side of the room (in 'Club mode'). Each line is delayed back to subs at the 'stage end' of the room, and in this mode it is used on a day-to-day basis for background music and also for club nights.
The second mode is 'stage subs', where the ASB6128s are stacked either side of a portable stage at one end of the room for live events, when the room is polarised through the use of a portable stage.
Switching between the two modes is handled via a BSS BLU-160 DSP through the use of parameter presets, and also via Ethernet control messages sent via the HiQnet network which causes the Crown iTech 9000HD amplifiers running the subs to change presets to reflect the different delays required for each sub position.
A third mode is also employed which allows the system to be run without the subs, when a parameter preset in the BLU-160 mutes the subs and changes the frequency response of the AM Series boxes to allow full range operation. Assigned to the AM enclosures are Crown's XTi 6002 amplifiers, while BSS BLU-10 remote touch screen displays also provide local control.
With all eight analogue inputs and eight analogue outputs of the BLU-160 accounted for, Adlib added two BLU-BIB Break-In Boxes and a BLU-BOB Break-Out Box for a total I/O channel count of 24 inputs and 16 outputs.
The main signal distribution is handled by the BLU-160 through the use of Matrix blocks within the software design, and controlled via the BLU-10 remotes.
All the equipment was supplied by Sound Technology Ltd, Harman Professional's UK distributors for the UK and Eire, with Ben Todd and Hugo Burnard from their project team supporting the installation.
The new system has allowed the MMU SU to plan and host a much greater variety of events than was previously available in the old building.
(Jim Evans)
