Multimedia was a design element from the very start," said Chris Sia of CPS Electronics, Vancouver. CPS was retained by the museum’s exhibit designers, J.J. Andre & Associates to carry out the multimedia design and specification. Theatres, sound zones and lighting effects are involved in every one of the eight areas of the exhibit, sometimes nothing more than a bird-chirp, other times with large multi-screen video presentations. "At the outset," Sia explains, "four multimedia issues were identified. They were - the theatres; the environmental sounds in the dioramas and exhibit spaces; the small videos in the exhibit spaces; and coordination with the lighting system.
For the five theatre spaces, the multimedia system needed to have it all - clean, clear, large pictures and accurate sound for clear narration, but still making a significant impact. To maximise this impact, Sia selected two Studio A loudspeaker systems from US manufacturer Bag End for surround sound, along with their TA1200 effects loudspeakers. In all, he spec’d a total of 28 Bag End speaker systems. Each Bag End Studio A system consists of a pair of factory-matched and pre-set MM-8 near-field monitors, two D18E-I double 18" subwoofer systems and an ELF-1 signal processor, which provides a bass response down to 8Hz. Sia selected Haffler amplifiers to power the system and Pioneer DVD7400 DVD players to source the audio. All of the Bag End equipment was purchased from the company’s distributor in China, CAH Professional Sound Co of Hong Kong, by the museums multimedia content producers, Salon Films.
Both Sia and museum officials were pleased with the result. "The voice narratives were clear, and the music and effects sounds, particularly in the Geology Theatre, where sounds of volcanic rumbles and tectonic shifts were being played, sounded full but still tight," he said. "The initial fears of serious acoustic problems are not apparent."
(Lee Baldock)
