Accessed by two custom paging stations based on TSC-8 touchscreen controllers, the Core 1000-based Q-Sys system routes audio to and controls no fewer than 15 QSC CX254 amplifiers throughout the building, fed by seven DAB-801 redundant amplifier switchers.
The Congress Centre Messe Frankfurt (CMF) houses conference and meeting rooms, and a large multi-purpose 2200-capacity auditorium (known as the Harmonie hall) that can be divided into as many as 15 segments, each separately addressed by its own PA feed if required, or combined to make a single large conference and event hall. The floor in the Harmonie hall can be flat, or be lowered up to three metres and 20 centimetres in sections to create a raked audience seating area by means of bespoke underfloor hydraulic systems.
Prior to the introduction of Q-Sys, the Congress Centre had a PA/VA system dating from 1996, but it no longer met the stringent safety requirements expected of it under German and European law. Design Consultant Frank Sokat of German firm IFB Consulting was engaged by the Messe administration to draw up the specification for a new system, which included the construction of a completely new control room.
"This was a project with many requirements," explains Frank Sokat. "The new PA/VA had to fulfill the requirements of the German and European safety standards for such systems, DIN0828 and EN60849, and all of the components had to be networkable, with full redundancy possible. In terms of performance, the system had to be capable of dealing with up to 50 paging sub-networks, and to manage up to 60 different types of simultaneous audio input throughout its network at any one time, and up to 40 outputs.
"It had to interface with and route audio to and from the existing analogue loudspeaker systems, Crestron control systems and paging stations, which were not being replaced, while adding two new paging stations for fire alarm announcements and stage management in the Harmonie hall.
"Our choice to meet all of these very exacting requirements was Q-Sys. For control, we installed two TSC touch screen panels. The one used for stage control in the Harmonie hall is portable and can be plugged in anywhere there is an Ethernet port; it's often used to control the systems from the dressing rooms. The other paging station/touch screen controller is permanently installed in the fire control centre, next to the bi-directional communications with the fire brigade. Standard alarm messages can be called up and transmitted fast from the TSC-8 if required."
"We created the paging stations by customising QSC TSC-8s," explains Torsten Haack, director of the Systems Group at Shure Germany, the local QSC distributor. "The one in the porter's lodge at the fire control centre used a TSC-8 in combination with a Shure 514B microphone, while the mobile version used for stage control consisted of a TSC-8 and a Shure Microflex microphone."
(Jim Evans)
