By Dean Gurden in Audio, Education, Systems April 12, 2022 0

The distributor collaborated with GVAV to deliver an enhanced and flexible audio system for a 200-capacity lecture theatre at a marine laboratory in Plymouth, Devon.

The Plymouth Marine Laboratory, a flexible conference venue with facilities to host up to 200 attendees, required an upgrade to its AV system to support its diverse application use.

GVAV approached Audiologic to come up with an audio solution to support presentations, workshops, and a variety of meetings and events. This included content streaming capabilities via a unified communications system, such as Teams or Zoom, with the additional option of live streaming to YouTube.

Offering a versatile solution with precise coverage was key to ensure that speech intelligibility is maintained throughout the large space and to prevent unwanted pickup from microphones within the room.

An auto-tracking system has also been designed into the space. Commissioned by Audiologic application support engineer Diogo Scutti, a QSC Core 110f digital processor runs a custom script. This controls three QSC PTZ cameras to track participants within the room using speech picked up from four Shure MXA910 ceiling microphones and an MX418 gooseneck microphone.

Using the microphones’ eight lobes, the system can trigger a range of camera locations to be shown based on the position of the active participant. The diversity of the room, with many different layouts and retractable seating, meant that the system had to adapt to any use.

Fine-tuned for an array of seating arrangements and speaker heights, the system ensures both the audience and presenters can be picked up accurately, while keeping background noise to a minimum.

The Sennheiser SpeechLine Wireless Microphone System provides digital wireless microphones, automatically allocating a frequency on the DECT range when in use. This means that presenters don’t have to worry about finding available frequencies or interference, as the Speechline system is constantly checking for both.

Supported by Sennheiser Infrared for assistive listening, the system not only provides quality, reliable audio, it caters for all listeners.

The Shure MXA910 microphones offer precision auto-tracking and are used to provide voice-lift within the space. This means that a speaker can be heard anywhere in the space, as the microphone captures their voice, which is then processed by the QSC Cores and lifted to the areas furthest away.

Voice-lift uses gain to compensate for the natural loss of level over distance. This eliminates the need for passing around microphones, especially useful in modern times, and means that even those without wireless mics can be heard without disrupting flow of a lecture.

Scutti said: “The concept of this project was to provide the end-user a system with the most flexible features, meeting the room’s initial requirements. The combination of QSC Core, the QSC PTZ cameras and the Shure MXA910 ceiling tile microphones allowed several room combinations, even when the retractable seats are in a different configuration.”

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