Electronic Sound Company (ESC), a Des Moines, IA-based AV systems integrator, recently outfitted the newly constructed gym at Webster City High School (Webster, IA) with a new sound reinforcement system cable of supporting concert performances as well as live sporting events.
The new system is headed by RoomMatch RM12060 array modules from Bose Professional Systems Division.
Specifically, ESC deployed eight RoomMatch RM12060 array modules driven by three Bose PowerMatch PM8500 configurable professional power amplifiers, along with two RoomMatch RMS215 subwoofer modules and a Bose ControlSpace ESP-00 processor.
The system, along with acoustical treatment design, also by ESC, allowed the high school to move an upcoming fundraiser concert by Iowa-born operatic basso-baritone vocalist Simon Estes from the school’s auditorium, which seats only 650, to the new gymnasium, which can seat up to 2,500.
“RoomMatch is the best speaker that I have ever used for control over the sound,” states Al Osborn, CEO of ESC. “It is a highly controllable speaker. In this situation, we needed to keep the sound away from very specific parts of the room, such as the lower parts of the walls, because as a gym we couldn’t put acoustical treatment materials on the first 16 feet of the wall height.
“So we had to have a sound system that was precisely controllable and highly directional. That system includes Bose RoomMatch array module loudspeakers.”
The ControlSpace ESP engineered sound processor provides control and audio processing in a single, expandable unit and offers eight expansion card slots accommodating a range of input/output options, including control via RS-232 and serial over IP, analog audio, AES-3, Dolby Digital, DTS and PCM digital stream formats, as well as CobraNet network audio.
The ControlSpace ESP-00 offers an asymmetrical I/O matrix capability where up to 64 digital channels or 32 analog channels can be routed and processed, a function that Osborn used to allow the sound system to operate in specific zones as needed. This further helps control the sound energy in the room, supporting the intelligibility of the sound, by minimizing reverberation.
And finally, the two RoomMatch RMS215 subwoofer modules that Osborn incorporated into the system design play a very special role at Webster City High – the school’s sports mascot, a lynx, needed its own sound effect for games played in the gym. Osborn found a recording of what he called “an appropriately angry lynx” that provided the full-throated roar the school was looking for.
“The two RoomMatch RMS215 subwoofers are just what they needed to get that extra level of excitement across,” he says.
