The slow pace of design and construction was a reflection of the desire to get everything correct. This was particularly evident in the increasingly vital area of audio/visual and information technology, according to Joey D'Angelo, principal consultant with Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc., the San Francisco-based consulting firm who designed the facility's A/V system.
The design specification went through several incarnations, but one element recommended by D'Angelo at the outset remained on the list: SymNet Audio Matrix from Symetrix. "Much of the project's architecture and A/V system design changed over the years, but the recognition of the need for the system to work as hands-off as possible stayed steady," he says.
That goal was reached by pairing a Crestron 2 control system with SymNet's modular audio processing hardware. This allowed D'Angelo the freedom to design a comprehensive audio routing and processing system that could easily be changed via touch screens to suit the nature of the various proceedings in the Board of Supervisors Chambers.
Five SymNet 8x8 DSP units form the backbone of the audio system. They are responsible for massaging and directing audio traffic in a network that incorporates 36 inputs and 28 outputs, still shy of the 40x40 that the five-box configuration allows.
"It's a huge system as it's set up now, and it's very complex given that it's a hybrid system that's part stand-alone A/V and part broadcast-capable," D'Angelo says. "SymNet comes in very handy in making it all happen."
The system requirements were formidable. It would have to handle 21 microphones, numerous audio and audio/visual sources - some requiring playback and archive capabilities - while delivering separate feeds for CATV broadcasts and nine reinforcement zones. SymNet handles mixing, dynamics, equalization, routing, delay, and level control for multi-zone speech and playback reinforcement in the venue. It also interfaces with a number of outboard devices handling various archive, broadcast, and production tasks.
Hosting not only the county's main governing body, but numerous other state and local governmental panels, the new chambers are currently in use four days a week, according to Greg McDougall, a member of the county's A/V staff.
With Crestron touch screen controllers located strategically throughout the facility, users of the system now have a level of audio management and control that was impossible to achieve in the county's former residence.
For D'Angelo, the project represented yet another successful application of SymNet, a system Charles M. Salter Associates has had a long and successful affiliation with. "As consultants, we spec products that we want to work and to last" D'Angelo says. "The reason we like SymNet is because it works. Also, the field programmers we work with rate it as a top DSP product. We never hear complaints about SymNet after it's been installed."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
