When Professor CS Deshpande founded the Vidyalankar Dyanapeeth Trust and
started coaching students in 1960, using just a single classroom in Dadar to do so,
little did he know that it would grow into one of the finest engineering teaching
establishments in India.

Now situated in Wadala (East), a central suburb of Mumbai, the campus of the
Vidyalankar Institute of Technology stretches over 11 acres (45,000 sq-m) of land,
and currently has around 7,000 students enjoying some of the best teaching and
recreational facilities the country has to offer.

“At Vidyalankar, we understand the needs of the students, and we go that extra mile
to make sure that we fulfil them,’ says Vishwas Deshpande, managing trustee of the
Vidyalankar Dyanapeeth Trust. “We encourage regular social and recreational
activities in tandem with our academic timetables too. For this building, it was felt
that what we really needed was a good auditorium that could be used for lectures,
movie screenings, events and more. We wanted something that was attractive,
simple to use and flexible enough to cope with a variety of events and end users.’

The right AV consultant for the job turned out to be Hewshott, a leading AV and
acoustic design consultancy firm in India and part of a global AV and acoustics
consulting group, Hewshott International. In working to balance the client’s budget
and provide a system that was fit-for-purpose, the consultant recommended using
TANNOY within the design.

For the auditorium, two TANNOY VXP 15HP loudspeakers have been ceiling mounted
as the main front of house system. VXP is TANNOY’s line of self-powered sound
reinforcement loudspeakers based on the passive VX Series products, and featuring
the IDEEA power module from Lab.gruppen. Two further VXP 8 loudspeakers are
positioned on the floor as monitor wedges, with two VSX 15DR subwoofers,
powered by a Lab.gruppen C 48:4 amplifier, installed under the stage to provide
extra LF support should it be required. Also in the amp rack are four LAB.GRUPPEN
E 8.2 amplifiers, which provide the power for the TANNOY Di6 loudspeakers
installed on each side of the auditorium to act as side fills and delays.

The front of house position offers control via a Soundcraft console, while
beyerdynamic mics are used throughout the auditorium.

With building work not limited to the auditorium itself, Hewshott also selected a
number of TANNOY CVS ceiling speakers for the reception areas, DVS on-wall
speakers for the boardrooms, and CMS dual concentric ceiling speakers for the
dining areas, allowing for a signature sound throughout the building. The systems
integration portion of the project was completed by project contractor Sigma-Byte
AV, whose own previous experience with TANNOY products made for a smooth
installation.