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Sewanhaka Central High School District’s school auditoriums upgraded with EM Acoustics
Advance Sound Company (ASC) is a New York-based system integration company known for its portfolio of audio-led design-build projects, many of which are focused in the education sector. ASC was recently engaged by Sewanhaka Central High School District (SCHSD) in Long Island to upgrade five of its high school auditoriums across five school campuses.
Each space serves as a central hub of the school community, supporting performances, lessons and events. The EMS Series, a comprehensive family of loudspeakers from British manufacturer EM Acoustics, was chosen for three of the auditorium upgrade projects, with local support and collaboration provided by Cardone, Solomon & Associates, Inc.
During the planning phases of the project, ASC were asked to consult on the best option for the client’s needs and budget. After meeting with the district and spending time with music staff, students and teachers at each school, the company proposed a new approach, a complete move away from the off-the-shelf systems the schools had previously been considering. “The goal was to deliver consistent audio coverage and intelligibility to every seat in the auditorium, whilst ensuring the system was easy to operate for staff and students”, says ASC’s Matthew DePace.
The auditoriums at New Hyde Park Memorial High School, H. Frank Carey High School and Elmont Memorial High School are identical in size and layout, which enabled ASC to design a common solution. Originally designed around constant-curve line-array systems, the spaces had suffered from uneven audio coverage.
“One of our design principles is to take a more distributed approach to sound design”, says ASC’s Thomas DePace. “By deploying delay loudspeakers, we could change the entire feel of the space. The variety of models within the EMS Series allowed us to design a fully distributed system that would grant everyone in the space the same listening experience. We designed a left, centre, right configuration with delays to ensure clarity and coverage for both spoken word and music.”
The system configuration includes an EMS-159 as a centre, with downfill from an EMS-126. On the left and right are EMS-129 loudspeakers. Rear and delay fills are provided by EMS-101Xs. “The centre channels are used predominantly for voice, allowing vocals to travel beyond the orchestra pit”, explains Matthew DePace. “The EM Acoustics system has doubled the acoustic volume of the rooms and gives the schools plenty of headroom and dynamic range to work with across different production types.”
Amplification is through the client’s own Crown XTi amplifiers, with processing through Symetrix digital signal processors. This solution was duplicated across these three high school auditoriums, and ASC customised equally robust solutions in the District’s other two schools’ auditoriums.
Ease of operation for a broad range of users was a key requirement, with the system supporting both day-to-day assemblies and more sophisticated end-of-semester productions. A Crestron touch panel in all five school auditoriums allows for unified control of the audio and video systems, with different modes preconfigured by ASC to suit different use cases.
Automatic mode for everyday use allows one-touch system operation, including audio input from one or two microphones. Staff can connect their own audio sources via Bluetooth or RCA. A manual mode, protected by a three-second screen press, unlocks more comprehensive features and allows for integration of the auditorium’s own mixing consoles. ASC also provided training to students on microphone technique and system use, incorporating the system into the schools’ music and drama programmes.
From ASC’s perspective, EM Acoustics provided strong support throughout: “The availability of data, such as 2D and 3D modelling, was invaluable”, says Matthew DePace. “The bracketry design and centre of gravity considerations in terms of the product engineering also save time during installation.”
(Photos: EM Acoustics)
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