Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s mission is to engage a diverse population with the art and craft of the northwest region.
Recently, what started as a project to fix some shortcomings with the AV system in the museum’s auditorium, turned into a considerably larger project.
Seattle, WA-based CRC Technologies, an AV systems design / build firm, was initially contracted to make some enhancements to the existing AV system.
Jay Nichols, manager of the AV Division, realized that by adding some components to the existing system, he could help them accomplish what they needed.
Those additions included a Lectrosonics SPNDNT Dante capable DSP mixer / processor and two DNTBOB 88 breakout boxes to augment the capabilities of the ASPEN SPN2412 24-input audio processor already in their possession.
“I started off just fixing the initial install in the auditorium that was done by another company,” Nichols explained. “After the customer realized how good the equipment was that they already owned, I turned into a salesman and convinced them to expand the system—not cascade two systems together.
“I became the engineer when it came time to create schematic and line drawings to show the customer that the expansion would work and, finally, with the help of my installation crew, I became the installer and system programmer for the final commissioning of the new system.”
According to Nichols, the Lectrosonics SPN2412 and SPNDNT are located in the Frank Buxton Auditorium equipment rack while the two DNTBOB 88 interfaces are located in the basement equipment rack.
“The SPN2412—originally deployed by the original contractor—is used to mix microphones and line level sources from three stage floor boxes, wireless microphones, and preamp signals from the surround sound processor used for the auditorium.
“This system was expanded to add a museum-wide paging microphone for emergency announcements. Further, the SPNDNT is used to mix the audio from sources throughout the museum and disseminate them to any of the sixteen zones throughout the museum.”
“The DNTBOB 88 breakout boxes are used to take the analog audio signal from the Crestron DM video switch and send it to the SPNDNT for mixing,” Nichols continued. “These two interface units also take the mixed signal from the SPNDNT and connect it to the 70-volt amplifiers used by the system.”
The Aspen SPN2412 processor’s ability to mix the variety of signals required for the multipurpose auditorium without the need for someone to ‘run the soundboard’ was a huge factor in the project.
“By adding the combination of the SPNDNT Dante processor and the two DNTBOB 88 breakout boxes, we achieved the perfect solution to expand on the existing SPN2412 install and make the entire system seamless,” Nichols added.
The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s AV system expansion was completed in June and since that time, Nichols reports that the customer is extremely happy and everything is working just as he envisioned.