The Leicester Campus Gymnasium at the Becker College campus in Leicester, Massachusetts, which hosts basketball games, rallies, banquets and speeches, now features a new sound reinforcement system headed by an Ashly Audio ne24.24M matrix processor with intuitive Ashly remote control units.
“It (the previous system) was antiquated,” said Alan Redstone of nearby Wavelengths Pro Audio, the firm that oversaw the design and install of the new system. “They had to roll in a power amp to use it, and all of the cabling was literally falling to shreds. There was no input for recorded music, and vocals sounded bad enough that even listeners with no audio expertise immediately recognized that something was amiss.”
The gymnasium is now served by eight Community R.5 horn-loaded, two-way loudspeakers split between two zones, with four hanging in a line facing the wall with retractable bleachers, and the other four hanging above mid-court and aim downward.
Two QSC amplifiers power the loudspeakers, while the Ashly Audio ne24.24M matrix DSP provides input conditioning, processing, and a brick wall limiter (so that no volume-hungry undergraduates undo the new system with exuberant gain).
Further, Wavelengths Pro Audio cut into the courtside brick to make room for a Lowell turnkey remote, an Ashly WR-2 four-position switch, an input panel, and an Ashly RW-8C remote level controller. The key sequences power the entire system, and the WR-2 selects the bleacher speakers, the center court loudspeakers, or both. Four XLR inputs and an RCA input make the sound system flexible.
Lastly, the RW-8C provides input volume control, as well as separate zone and master volumes. The actual Ashly ne24.24M processor and QSC amps reside high up on a training room wall, far from curious fingers.
“We almost always turn to Ashly for processing,” said Redstone. “Of course there are quite a few companies making processors these days, but for the price, none of them match the functionality of Ashly. In addition, we receive tremendous support from everyone associated with Ashly. The engineering department is famously attentive. They respond immediately whenever I need them. And our New England Ashly rep, Perry Lengyel, is arguably the hardest working rep in the country.”
The installation came off without a hitch, and Redstone arranged a meeting with Becker’s multimedia department and athletic director – the individuals who would use the system on a day-to-day basis.
“They were blown away,” he laughed. “It’s so easy to operate – just turn a key, plug in your inputs, and you’re done. Zone selection and volume control are so transparent and intuitive that someone would know what to do the very first time they ever laid eyes on it. It’s a pretty dramatic upgrade from the old cabinet that used to sputter and crackle in that old gymnasium.”