13 Crown CTs 2000 amplifiers, using PIP Lite cards and running Crown IQ software, provide amplification. As the leading entertainment centre in Auckland, Skycity Auckland has music covering its casino, four-star hotel and Sky Tower. The main requirements for Daniel Nel, the entertainment operations manager for the complex, was flexibility in the design and the possibility to upgrade the signal processing easily; it also had to sound good.
As part of the upgrade the number of sources was increased from two to 12. The positioning of Soundweb SW9010 'Jellyfish' remotes around the venue allows the easy source selection in different zones, and allows managers to select more specific musical styles for their areas. There are also paging inputs from the Skycity theatre, so that technical staff can make announcements to the theatre foyer.
An important technical requirement was the ability for the onsite technicians to confirm audio in zones through a PFL bus and fault reporting of speaker loads and amplifier tolerances. Technicians now receive an e-mail and page if amplifiers are operating out of preset parameters using Crown IQ. Using existing fibre and computer cabling around the building, a 9088MM has been placed in a remote plant room on a fibre link. The flexibility of the expansion options was an advantage, as different areas of the complex are upgraded; using the existing cabling infrastructure a new Soundweb unit can be added to the network to increase capacity.
The new equipment was installed in two custom 45U equipment racks in the main plant room, which house two computers, one running Crown IQ and the other running Soundweb Designer. The original system, on the other hand, had required six 45U equipment racks to house all the amplifiers and analogue control equipment. Home Automation Specialists (Auckland) Ltd were responsible for the installation, along with the system design and programming, assisted by Jands NZ Technical Resource Group (TRG).
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
