Philadelphia University upgrades to Community

USA - Philadelphia's University of the Sciences main athletic facility, the gymnasium at Rosenberger Alumni Hall, recently received a sonic renovation, courtesy of Philadelphia-based Clear Sound. As Clear Sound's Chris Dietze explains, the facility has long been in need of better sound. "The gym's PA system has always been underpowered and poorly placed," says Dietze. "For sporting events, people tend to overlook bad sound and blame it on the ambient crowd noise, but they use the gym for other events too, like convocations and student orientations, and it's then that the problem would become painfully apparent." Clear Sound designed a system utilising 12 Community R1-66 full-range two-way loudspeaker systems mounted strategically across the gym's peaked metal roof, with six loudspeakers covering the bleacher areas and six more covering the court area. "The difference in intelligibility is like night and day," says Dietze.

The loudspeakers are configured into multiple zones, allowing the A/V staff to turn various sections off and on depending on what's needed for a given event. Dietze adds: "We only had a single 3/4-inch conduit to run wiring through, so we converted the signal to digital using an Aviom Pro64 encoder in the rack, and another in the Yamaha LS9 digital console. That enabled us to carry the signal on a single Cat 5 cable. The only connection to the console rack is two pieces of Cat 5 and power cables. It solved any potential grounding problems as well."

(Jim Evans)

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