FEATURE: INSTALLED SOUND and need to radiate freely. To be able to achieve this, all roof fittings need to be included in the construction plans to avoid later problems with acoustic shadows and reflections.” Highlighting a product range that includes the 180-model Electro-Voice EV Innovation range (“designed with the contractor in mind”), and notable recent installations such as the Allianz Riviera Stadium in Nice, France, Sahm underlines the continuing buoyant health of this market sector. “Stadiums are a more or less constant portion of the business as there are always some national or international events in the pipeline during the coming years,” he states. “At the same time, some older venues will undergo modernisation and renovation. Each individual project has a timeline of several years and individual projects will overlap. We see regional variations depending on the location of events. Globally, however, we are experiencing a positive trend and contribution to the business because of [the aforementioned] quality requirements.”
Educational Facilities In distinct contrast to stadiums, where budgets are generally substantial and there is little difficulty scaling a high bar for audio quality, educational facilities will often have to contend with very limited funds. Nonetheless, it is generally felt that they are increasingly astute when it comes to the specification of new systems – calling upon specialist consultants and integrators whenever possible to help ensure that they get the best value for money. It’s no surprise to discover that, in many cases, these systems must be able to handle a wide variety of activities – from school meetings to live performances and more. But increasingly there is a call for more extensive integration with other AV equipment, as QSC’s director of sales EAME – systems group, Glen Harris, observes. “There is a need for sound systems to fully integrate with video and control,” he explains. “Being of a true Layer 3 design [QSC’s networked audio and control platform] Q-Sys can co-exist on a converged network and therefore offers the client the ability to integrate 20
Funktion-One flying high in Beirut High-quality audio and the need to respect the proximity of local residents were among the primary factors that informed the installation of Funktion-One speaker systems at two new rooftop restaurant/bars in Beirut, named Iris and Caprice. Installation at the venues – both of which are owned and operated by Addmind – was carried out by Funktion-One’s distributor in Lebanon, Audiotec Group. The ability to deliver low level background during the day, live performances in the early evening and louder club levels into the night were priority considerations for the installation at Iris, which is located on top of the iconic alNahar building and incorporates an outdoor deck and wooden bar. “We also had to be conscious of neighbours,” says Funktion-One design engineer Mike Igglesden, who worked with Audiotec Group to design the systems for both venues. “To deal with this, we designed a twin four-point system of F101s for the central area and stereo F81s for the surrounding areas. By doing this we were able to create a digital audio with IP-based video and control. Co-existing on the same network reduces costs based around the network cable infrastructure as there is no need to run separate LAN. Our latest solutions
“Stadiums are a more or less constant portion of the business as there are always some national or international events in the pipeline during the coming years.” Oliver Sahm, Bosch Security Systems
are both hardware and software featurebased, but all residing in a single DSP Q-Sys processor; such as the media stream receiver (software), built-in media drive storage of up to 1,200 hours of WAV, MP3 audio storage (internal
high intensity in the middle due to the general close proximity of the speakers. Despite there being 25 speakers, we’ve kept the number of source locations to six. “The pair of F81s facing the stage and the F101s either side are on separate processing channels so that the F81s can be turned off or used for monitors and the F101s’ level can be raised for live performances. For the low frequencies, we used BR218s in the central area and BR118s for the surrounding area. These are ideal as they produce strong, deep nearfield bass that doesn’t travel hardware) and a 128 multi-track player (software).” Harris anticipates continued growth for QSC in the educational market, not least due to the arrival of new products such as the Q-Sys Core 110f DSP appliance. A total of 128 x 128 network audio channels, 16 x 16 USB audio channels, 24 channels of analogue I/O, eight configurable flex channels, 16 x 16 GPIO Logic Ports and 16 channels of routable AEC are among the features of the new appliance.
Bars/Restaurants Sound reinforcement pioneer FunktionOne has been synonymous with high-end leisure and entertainment installations for nearly 25 years now, and director Ann Andrews confirms the growing expectations of quality throughout the bar and restaurant sectors. “These days people expect more than background music, and yet at the same time they still wish to be comfortable and able to converse,” she says. “The high-
too far, again helping us to localise the sound.” Located on the Jal El Dib seaside road, the Caprice venue also utilises a host of different Funktion-One products, including Resolution 2 speakers, F101s, F88s and BR218s. Audiotec Group managing partner Ralph Choueiri comments: “Both of these venues are excellent references for Audiotec and for Funktion-One. They show what can be achieved with the compact range of loudspeakers, together with a creative approach designing the best sound reinforcement for the space in question.” quality sound delivered by Funktion-One systems easily achieves this.” In terms of new products geared towards these space-conscious environments, Andrews points to the MB210 low-profile bass [enclosure], while with “the rise in the number of outdoor installations for beach bars we have had to introduce products with weatherresistant qualities”. But more generally, she remarks that all of Funktion-One’s “small systems sell particularly well into this market with the associated lowfrequency products”. Taking stock geographically, Andrews cites “particular growth in the Middle East and Ibiza, and in beach bars generally”, while foremost expectations for 2016 include “steady growth, along with increasing awareness of the importance of sound quality”. www.boschsecurity.com www.funktion-one.com www.l-acoustics.com www.qsc.com
January 2016
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