Univest recently opened a branch office in Newtown, Pennsylvania and relied on A/V integration firm Communication Systems Incorporated, CSi, of nearby Allentown to design and commission a sound system for digital signage and traditional background music. In turn, CSi relied on an Ashly Audio Pema 8125 eight-channel amplifier with an integrated digital matrix processor, along with Ashly Audio's WR-5 wall-mounted remote control and its iPad remote control app.
"To the electrical contractor, Bergey's Electric, of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, the bank officials relayed their desire for a well-balanced sound system that would be easy for non-technical staff to control," said Wayne Becker, vice president of business development at CSi. "Bergey's Electric turned to us to design the system and to oversee the final connections, programming, and user training."
In a nutshell, the system had to provide distribution to several zoned areas, some of which required straight background music and some of which required multimedia support. The latter are primarily in the lobby and the waiting area. "It had to be easy for the staff to assign sources to zones and to turn them up and down independently," said Becker. "In terms of the design, the multimedia areas had to be well-separated from the other areas so that the digital signage could be supported without bleeding into the banking customer service area."
Music and digital signage inputs feed the Ashly Pema 8125, which applies appropriate input equalization, delay and routing on the front end. Output from Pema's Protea digital processor internally feeds its eight 125-watt amplifiers, which in turn feeds eight zones of TOA H2 and JBL 8138 loudspeakers.
"Univest is very happy with the way the new system sounds and operates," said Becker. "They can use the Ashly WR-5 wall remote in a pinch, or they can use Ashly's iPad Remote App for more in-depth control. Either way, its functionality is intuitive and easy for the bank staff to understand and operate. On our end, we've always had great results with Ashly - the gear is well priced, straightforward to configure, and backed by Ashly's easy-to-reach support staff."
(Jim Evans)
