Simon Yapp, head of audio visual and sound at Glyndebourne and his colleague Keith Benson, head of lighting, needed to find a solution to replace the Glyndebourne's old paging system, which had become unsupportable. The solution was required to not only replace the original paging system with 16 zones but also offer increased flexibility without throwing away the existing cable infra-structure and speaker system, all of which were still serviceable.
Due to the support issues of the old system, a key factor was that the system would have ongoing support for the future. Simon Yapp comments: 'As a long-term user of the RTS Two-wire system, Glyndebourne had experience of both RTS products and the support RTS offers. RTS is an established company we have come to trust, so naturally we turned to them to see if they could provide us with an appropriate solution.' Simon contacted Adrian Richmond, UK sales manager for RTS Digital Intercoms.
The new installation had to provide the switching necessary for the paging and artist calls, relay closures plus 5 user stations; Stage Door; The Jerwood Rehearsal Room; The Peter Hall Rehearsal Room; Ebert Room (Studio); The Prompt Desk. It also had to accommodate two channels of RTS TW belt packs for the production loops and interface with a Motorola radio system.
Simon was very enthusiastic about the project: 'The installation was a joy because it was so simple, Telex/RTS provided me with all the information I required in advance so I could plan and prepare for the install. The switch over was achieved in only one week and we are now enjoying the benefits of a fully integrated flexible communications system with improved sound quality and I have saved over 30 rack units of space in the technical area.'
Everybody was pleasantly surprised when the system was first switched on as Simon explains: 'I was initially nervous as to what the audio quality might be like from such a small rack unit but when we switched over we were really impressed with the sound quality of the system everyone remarked on the difference.'
Future plans include the installation of a Telex BTR 800 two channel fully duplex wireless system for the stage managers. This will give them in-ear monitor audio quality and intelligent switching between the production loop, front-of-house and artist call from one compact wireless belt pack. Additionally Simon is excited by the possibilities opened up by adding an RVON (RTS Voice Over Network) card to the Cronus. He sees the ability to run key panels or feed audio over the Local Network as very useful plus it opens up the possibility of using 'Virtual Key Panels' as additional stations on the system. A Virtual Key Panel is software that uses a PC's sound card to create a key panel on a computer screen.
The Cronus digital matrix is a modular system that can grow from 8 ports (Users) to 128 ports. It operates with 24 bit digital audio (better than CD quality) and is easily interfaced with external audio sources or systems to create a fully configurable intelligent communications system.
(Claire Beeson)
