"We were looking at many different intercom systems, but there are several reasons we decided to go for ASL digital intercom," says Frank Verbeek from Switch Concepts.
"We were very impressed with the sound quality of the system and that it can actually produce the required listen levels in environments with high SPL background noise. Many other intercom systems are not able to do that.
"Then we also noticed how easily you can configure an event. It is so quickly done, that you can take the system even for a one day production and/or small productions without having to spend a day on programming it first."
Verbeek found another big plus point to be the possibility of using either daisy-chain or star wiring topologies. "You can save kilometers on cabling this way," he explains. "Last month we took the system to 'Symfonica', an event in a 17,000-seat arena. We went for instance from the matrix with one CAT5 cable to the eight follow spots and spread out from there in star wiring configuration and with three CAT5 cables to FOH where we had fifteen speaker stations and three analogue audio interfaces for the sound, light and video operators.
"Additionally, you can connect your beltpacks directly to the matrix without having to use interfaces to go to separate beltpack systems. And when rolling out your cables you don't have to worry about who ends up at which cable; since the system is based on personal ID numbers, the matrix 'finds' you wherever your station is on the network."
At Symfonica, Switch Concepts was made responsible for the entire communications system, including sound, lighting, video screens, special effects, autocue, audio/video recording, production office and stage management. In total, 22 multi-channel speaker stations, 23 two-channel beltpacks and 12 interface modules were needed, connected to two linked matrix units. For this event 63 groups were created, including 45 'person to person' groups, each for private conversation between two users.
(Jim Evans)
