Nexo reinforces Manchester’s Trafford Centre
- Details
intu Trafford Centre is the second largest shopping centre in the UK, now owned by Intu Properties. Hosting more than 30m visits annually, The Orient food court is its entertainment and hospitality hub. Attracting nearly 30,000 visitors a week, this two-level atrium space is also used for live events, fashion shows and seasonal celebrations, centred around a giant video screen.
Systems integrator T.G. Baker worked closely with Nexo’s UK office to design a complete audio solution for this large and reverberant space. The primary system is a Nexo Geo M6 compact line array, with six-box hangs of white M620 loudspeaker cabinets bracketing the huge video screen. These small speakers throw sound over 50m across the main seating area of the food court, supplemented by a pair of Nexo LS18 subbass units discreetly fitted into the structural surrounds.
Around the large atrium, the space on the ground and first floor is served by eight pairs of Nexo’s super-compact point-source loudspeakers, the ID Series. The design has used white models with a 120• x 40• dispersion pattern, and all 16 units are time-aligned, using BSS Soundweb.
“As it is the 20th anniversary of the intu Trafford this year, our client wanted a state-of-the-art system to complement their world-class service. They wanted the option of adjusting the SPL of each pair independently, to suit different events,” explains T.G.Baker project director Jason Longworth. “To make this simple and user-friendly, we customised a BSS control page for the output levels.”
Four NXAMP 4x1 controller/amplifiers are powering the whole system. Each pair of ID Series is on a separate channel, with another four channels handling the Geo M6 line array. The fourth amplifier is used for the LS18 subs.
(Jim Evans)
