After two failed attempts to supply its large auditorium with an intelligible, easy-to-use sound reinforcement system, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology found its solution in Symetrix’ Jupiter processor and a ARC-2 wall panel remotes.
Built in the mid-1990s, the auditorium seats 700 in a pie-shaped, multi-tiered room that can be divided into two 350-seat rooms. The new system centres on the Jupiter ‘zero learning curve’ processor and a pair of ARC-2 wall panel remotes that allow users to intuitively combine rooms and control volume.
Local A/V integrator Haggerty’s Audio Visual – led by 30-year A/V veteran Steve Foudray – was behind the design: ‘No one was very happy with the sound system in the auditorium,’ Foudray explains. ‘The intelligibility was poor and the user interface to combine rooms and control volume was less than intuitive. A few years in, the school bit the bullet and overhauled the sound system, but insufficient speaker coverage and arcane interface technology provided no relief.’
Foudray approached the system with a mix of muscle and nuance, providing four inputs per side in such a way that all eight inputs would be available when the room is combined. Two wireless microphones, four XLR jacks for wired microphones, and two line-level jacks give the system the flexibility without overwhelming users with unnecessary choices. A Jupiter 8 hardware unit provides eight inputs and eight outputs, while an Electro-Voice CPS2.9 amplifier powers a distributed system of Electro-Voice Evid C4.2 ceiling speakers.
In addition to providing a top-tier education to 2,300 students, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (or just ‘Mines’), provides the venue for the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce’s Legislative Crackerbarrel sessions. These allow the public to voice its concerns and ideas with the local governing bodies. The Crackerbarrel sessions and several of the Mines’ larger lecture classes take place in the main auditorium of its New Classroom Building.
To give control of the system to users – none of whom could be assumed to have any technical training – Foudray used the ARC-2 wall panel remotes, one per side. ‘I like the ARC-2 because I can label every control within the display, avoiding external labels,’ he says. Control is restricted to those aspects of the system that must necessarily be addressed by the user: room combine/uncombine and volume. Where needed, users can also change the volumes of specific inputs.
‘The Jupiter is a perfect niche product for medium-sized installations,’ he continues. ‘It’s easy to set up from the integrator’s standpoint, and easy to connect to customised control systems, including Symetrix’ own ARC wall panel remotes. Despite its attractive price tag, it still has a lot of DSP horsepower. For example, I was able to tune the room at Mines using parametric filters and still have 31-band graphic EQs if necessary. I would normally avoid those because they potentially cost a lot of unused processor time, but the Jupiter had plenty of power to spare. I’m confident that the Jupiter is going to find its way into all of our small and medium-sized installations in the future.’
Inspired by smartphone technology, where a single hardware device can take on any number of functions via easy-to-install software apps, the Jupiter hardware units adapt to different uses using Jupiter Apps. Users select and download apps (from among a growing list of more than 60) using the company’s App Finder utility. For the auditorium at Mines, Foudray used an Automix App, which handles the mixing, room combining, and input and output conditioning.
More: www.symetrix.co
