Owned by UNITE, the Union T&G Section, and occupying a prime site in the Holborn business district, the independently run Diskus has been able to promote itself as an "advanced conference venue" since the AV specialists carried out a major upgrade this summer using QSC's AcousticDesign Series loudspeakers and CX Series power amplifiers.
Derek Wright, managing director of Design Integration, has frequently turned to QSC components to satisfy his project requirements - and given The Diskus's low ceiling height he was able to deploy multiples of AD-Ci52T and AD-Ci52ST recessed ceiling speakers for the foyer/break out area and main auditorium respectively.
Said conference manager, Francis Williams: "As The Diskus is available for general hire, it was important that we could compete at the top level with facilities many times larger (the venue's auditorium seats a maximum of 102). At the same time we needed to consider the aesthetics and we wanted the equipment to be discreet."
Wright was able to single-source most of the audio components from Shure Distribution UK, the QSC distributors. "We chose the QSC ceiling speakers on the basis of the near identical audio performance and voicing of the different QSC AD series loudspeakers, which allowed us to address the differing ceiling voids in the auditorium."
And it is inside the auditorium that Wright has scored his biggest success. In view of the shallow suspended ceiling he has installed 12 of the larger-footprint ported AD-Ci52ST ceiling speakers which provide greater low frequency extension and utilise a shallow back can.
Design Integration has assigned three QSC CX254 amplifiers to provide each loudspeaker with its own individual feed, therefore allowing 'Mix Minus' programming in the DSP.
While the ceiling speakers can be addressed by both mic and line sources, the key signal is from the 54 Shure Microflex delegate mics (effectively one shared between every two people). These comprise MX405 5" goosenecks on MX400DP bases with their programmable switch set for to push-to-talk.
The top table (which holds ten) is also equipped with further Shure Microflex bases, supporting 10" goosenecks - along with two lapel and handheld SLX wireless mics. Since the UHF receivers are situated in the equipment rack extended antennae have also been supplied. Completing the audio is a Clear One Converge Pro 880 audio conferencing system.
Meanwhile, The Diskus's video was respecified to increase the number of inputs and outputs available to the system (with existing equipment retained where possible).
The upgraded media displays now include two NEC 40in LCD's the foyer, three 32in monitors facing the top table and a 65in LCD as the main backdrop display. These also operate under Crestron control, with a 15" touch screen display at the lectern enabling the speaker to preview any video source addressing the main screen. In addition there is a presence of a 5.7" wireless controller for system operation within the foyer area.
(Jim Evans)
