The Excel AV Group to completed its largest DSP installation to date at the Grand Casino Mille Lacs entertainment complex. The system at the Minnesota resort installation features Shure wireless microphones, Danley Sound Labs main loudspeakers and JBL distributed speakers, along with a Symetrix DSP solution with 36 inputs and 28 outputs.
The venue operator ‘began looking at upgrading the sound for the main ballroom and smaller adjoining meeting rooms in February 2014,’ says company President Kevin Crow. ‘The main challenges were that they did not have a very good main PA, their control system was difficult to use, and patching was difficult.’
Flexible and easy-to-use processing was a priority, and Excel AV opted for two Symetrix SymNet Radius open architecture Dante-scalable DSPs. ‘The SymNet Radius units are so powerful and with their Dante capability, the networking is just amazing. Also, we had already deployed them successfully on a number of projects,’ says Crow.
The final Symetrix installation – comprising two SymNet Radius 12x8 DSPs along with one Axiomtek GOT-5152T-830-J touch panel controller, one xIn 12 input expander and two xOut 12 output expanders – allows staff to combine and un-combine ballroom sound. Eight wireless mic channels can be patched to any room or zone via a wireless tablet loaded with Symetrix SymVue GUI control software.
‘It’s now super-easy for a user to control volume for individual mics or to change room configurations and/or patching,’ Crow notes.
For Excel AV Group, the Grand Casino installation is only the latest in a long sequence of projects involving Symetrix DSPs: ‘We love the pro-audio EQ offerings that Symetrix has in its Composer 2.0 software, and we use Symetrix for our pro-audio rigs all the time without hesitation,’ says Crow.
‘There have been no issues running the system, which sounds fantastic for all types of entertainment, from regional acts to comedians and much more besides,’ says Crow. ‘Reliable, rugged and feature-rich, the Symetrix products are integral to the installation and we could not be more pleased with their performance.’
