In such a complex installation, “we knew that Symetrix SymNet Radius DSPs would
be reliable and flexible – in short, one less thing for us to worry about!’ These are
the thoughts of Steve Haas, President and Principal Consultant of Milford, CT-based
SH Acoustics, which was recently enlisted by NYC-based exhibition design firm
Thinc Design to perfect the demanding audio installation for the USA Pavilion at
Expo Milano.
The first world’s fair since 2012, Expo Milano is taking place in Italy from May 1 to
October 31, 2015. Centred around the theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’,
the event is aimed at stimulating discussion about sustainable developments among
the 140-plus participating nations. For its ambitious contribution, the USA is
exploring its role in global food production and the evolution of its own
contemporary food culture in a two-floor presentation spread over 26,000 sq ft.
With a large number of individual exhibits involved, and the need to avoid audio
spillage between different areas, SH Acoustics faced no shortage of challenges
when it began work on the project in spring 2014. “Not only did we have to
eliminate unwanted noise from building systems like HVAC and address any other
acoustic anomalies, there was a need to accommodate the changing plans for audio
content – be it narration, ambient sound or background music – as the Pavilion took
shape,’ explains Haas.
With fine-tuning of the exhibition contents taking place up until a late stage, Haas
and the installation teams from Habegger and Simmetrico required a robust audio
processing solution capable of dealing with the changes quickly, as well as a total
channel count that ran into the hundreds. The DSP also needed to be compatible
with SH Acoustics’ plan for a comprehensive, site-wide Dante media network
operating from “source to amplifier’.
The firm’s long-running experience with Symetrix DSPs meant that it was a
relatively instantaneous decision to specify four SymNet Radius AEC open
architecture Dante-scalable DSPs to handle all of these requirements. “We know
how to get what we want from the SymNet Composer programming software, and
are well aware of the reliability of the Symetrix hardware,’ says Haas. “And for this
project, the SymNet Radius DSPs afforded us a remarkable level of routing
capability – for example, we needed to be able to use ceiling speakers for multiple
programmes as well as ambient sound at different times, and this was easily
achieved.’
Specially customised ceiling speakers from another favourite brand, Innovox Audio,
were also featured on the specification list, alongside JBL Control and Tannoy VX
series speakers, and amplifiers from Stewart Audio and Yamaha.
“Milan isn’t exactly in our backyard,’ laughs Haas, “so we knew we needed an
installation that would minimise the requirement for external support once it was
up-and-running. As the core of the audio set-up, we knew that Symetrix’ SymNet
Radius DSP could give us the reliability we needed – and that has proven to be the
case.’
