Due to the design brief for the Assembly Hall of discrete, low profile loudspeakers, and the ability to easily reconfigure the room for different settings, Autograph's project manager Lee Dennison specified the i-2 three-way compact fullrange loudspeaker as the main loudspeaker component of the Assembly Hall. He explains, "These are a true 90° x 20° box which can be rigged horizontally or vertically and have a rotatable horn coupled with 2 x 5" drivers. The box is passive and it just keeps going." The first six enclosures to come off the production line from EM Acoustics' Surrey factory were shipped straight on to site.
The Assembly Hall is processed by an Allen & Heath iDR-8 with infra-red remotes, and is powered by a pair of MC2 T4-250 amplifiers, with two spare channels earmarked for a further two i-2s early in 2006 when the Hall's organ is removed. In addition a pair of EMS-81 8" x 1" passive full-range enclosures are used for balcony fills.
The Sports Hall posed an entirely new set of problems, with its naturally reverberant space and the danger of cricket balls and the like flying around, plus the multi-purpose nature of the venue, Dennison designed a system that was as flexible and ball-proof as possible.
The system comprises eight EMS-121 12" x 1" loudspeakers, four flown from the roof as a central cluster and four mounted as two mono pairs on the walls. The four in the roof are fitted with custom designed riot shields to protect them, whereas the four mounted at a considerably lower level on the walls have custom steel cages built to encase the entire loudspeaker. Delays and system equalisation to provide a natural vocal sound in such a difficult space are provided by an iDR-8, and the system is powered by a pair of MC2 T2000 power amplifiers.
(Jim Evans)
