USA - To expand research opportunities and community resources, the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners partnered with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) to develop the Alachua County Agriculture and Equestrian Centre.
The centre was created to provide a comprehensive venue for livestock shows, agricultural fairs, equestrian events, and various community activities. To power outdoor speakers across the venue, the centre turned to the award-winning Connect Series amplifiers from LEA Professional.
The 37-acre site’s development involved the construction of new pole-barn structures, refurbishment of a 250ft x 150ft indoor equestrian arena, and construction of a new outdoor arena. These arenas included new lighting, PA systems, bleachers, and other infrastructure elements. When it came time to implement the PA system, facility staff contacted Daniel Hunt, director of business development of JSC Systems, to design and deploy it.
“The equestrian centre wanted to make sure that speech intelligibility and audibility of the PA system was excellent in both arenas and the stables to ensure participants stayed well-informed,” said Hunt. “LEA amplifiers were my first choice to ensure the audio was exceptional.”
One of the PA system requirements involved being able to page the stables from either arena using the Crestron-controlled system, so Hunt deployed Connect Series 704 smart amplifiers for the stables and the pole-mounted loudspeakers around the arenas. The IoT-enabled four-channel 704D provides 700W per channel, supports Hi-Z (70V or 100V) and Lo-Z selectable by channel, and features Smart Power Bridge technology.
With three ways to connect, the equestrian centre can engage the built-in Wi-Fi access point, connect to the centre’s Wi-Fi, or connect to the local area network via Cat 5 or Cat 6 cable.
With LEA Cloud, AV teams can remotely control and monitor the amplifiers regardless of the location or time of day. Whether from within the centre or offsite, controlling the Connect Series amplifiers from afar helps teams work more efficiently, reducing travel and saving time and money.
“LEA Professional is proud to deliver crystal-clear audio for Alachua Equestrian Center spectators and participants,” said Brian Pickowitz, VP of marketing for LEA Professional. “Our goal is for our technology to provide integrators and users with peace of mind knowing their audio systems will outperform expectations.”
