The Riding School itself is an early Victorian building - but the new facilities show high quality refurbishment at its best, as designed by architects Brooks Murray. Today its use will be multipurpose - hosting a wide range of events from conferences to fashion shows and wedding receptions. The main atrium can accommodate up to 200 comfortably, with adjoining breakout/meeting rooms.
The contract for the audio visual installation was awarded to Hammonds AVS Ltd, who imaginatively deployed QSC AcousticDesign AD-S282 and AD-S52T loudspeakers, both at ground floor level and up in the vaulted gallery, taking advantage of the Advanced Directivity rotatable waveguide featured on the AD-S282.
Upstairs four sleek white polystyrene AD-S282's are fixed horizontally to the oak beams in each corner, angled down onto the floor below. These are supported by eight of the compact AD-S52T distributed loudspeakers upstairs and a further eight down. The AD-S282 enclosure incorporates two 8in weather-resistant, LF transducers with heavy-duty double roll cloth surrounds. These high output loudspeakers also employ a 1in exit compression HF driver. The smaller AD-S52T's also boast the same contemporary styling, and operate full range.
The sound reinforcement at the Riding School has been efficiently designed to allow the AD-S52T's to be run off a QSC CX-108V 8-channel 100V line amplifier, while the larger speakers are powered from a CX-404 4-channel amplifier.
Shure Distribution UK, who supplied all the QSC equipment, also provided Hatfield House with six Shure SLX wireless mics, mixed through a Shure SCM810 auto mixer, while a pair of wired SM58 mics (along with any other line level playback source such as CD, DVD and PC) can be mixed through a Phonic Helix mixer.
However, the hub of the system is a Shure P4800 system processor, which has been adapted to a simple operation. This distributes the sound to the four separate areas into which the hall is divided, to offer the Riding School independent zone control.
Shure Distribution UK's Peter James, who assisted Hammonds AVS Ltd with the design, says: "We came up with a custom solution for ease of operation. This system is now bullet proof and has been designed for one-button operation.
"At the same time the system delivers massive SPL - and is capable of delivering music at high level as well as speech." He says that the AD-S52's can easily be separated from the AD-S282's, enabling Hatfield House to select speakers by floor, or by size.
Hammonds AVS' Inesh Patel, who supported the company's installation project manager, Mike Simpson, says: "Shure Distribution really helped us out. We have always had a good relationship with the company and Peter James put a fantastic system together."
(Chris Henry)
