The need to prevent potentially costly downtime due to equipment failure was the final prompt for venue owner and operator Wisconsin CentreDistrict (WCD) to enlist locally-based Metro Sound & Video to specify and install a replacement for the existing DSP and paging set-up, as well as some ageing amplifiers and mixers. "Both WCD and we felt that it would be best to replace the entire system head-end now as opposed to when disaster strikes," says Metro Sound & Video director of operations Keith R. Anderson, who also worked on the original installation.
Scheduling issues meant that the Metro team ultimately had "a little over 30 days to design, implement and commission a working system that replaced all of the analogue mixers, the combining systems and existing DSP." Ease of integration and programming were therefore of critical importance - hence the decision to place Symetrix SymNet Radius 12x8 open architecture Dante-scalable DSPs at the core of this new processing infrastructure.
"All told we installed 16 SymNet Radius 12x8s and ten SymNet xIn 12 expanders, along with 38 Symetrix ARC-2e wall panel remotes for local room volume control, which were chosen to take advantage of their low cost and flexibility. We also provided Symetrix ARC-WEB browser-based control capability to the techs, too, so it is possible for them to control room and individual mic input levels from their smartphones," says Anderson, adding that SurgeX power conditioners were among the other new components specified during his overhaul.
Top Shelf Technologies (programming) and UNAVP (project consultancy) also made important contributions to the Wisconsin Center audio revamp, which Anderson reports has delivered greater flexibility, improved audio quality and enhanced reliability; to wit, there has been no need to return for a service issue or programming change in the ten months since the project was concluded.
(Jim Evans)
