The Pinellas County School District is the seventh largest in the Sunshine State and the 21st largest in the United States.
With 16 performing arts centers shared among its 141 elementary, middle, high and specialty public schools, this Florida school district’s commitment to music and arts is abundantly clear.
Mike Vetter, the District’s Technology Specialist for the Performing Arts, recognized that each performing arts facility used a variety of mismatched components with many inadequate designs, thus he spearheaded an initiative to upgrade the auditoriums.
Within that initiative they installed state of the art sound systems to meet the demands of the growing performing arts program. Vetter worked tirelessly to achieve a complete system upgrade, beginning with three Performing Arts Schools – Dunedin, Lakewood and Largo High.
Vetter contacted Michael Keane of Keane Acoustics in Oldsmar, Florida, who designed each of the three systems utilizing ENTASYS three-way, column line-arrays from Community Professional Loudspeakers.
The installation was completed by Tampa-based BCI Integrated Solutions, led by Bill Fairchild. The project schedule required all work to be completed during summer break, a short 65 days.
With the multi-use requirements of these facilities, Keane selected two ENTASYS modules for either side of the stage in each venue, providing consistent coverage, musicality and intelligibility, along with a sleek appearance that blended well with each room’s aesthetics. “Community loudspeakers and brackets made for a seamless installation,” said BCI’s Steve Sanders. “Other loudspeakers would have doubled the labor time.”
“The ENTASYS loudspeakers delivered uniform coverage to every seat with linear phase and a full rich sound,” added BCI President Grant Becker, who assisted Keane in tuning the auditoriums. “Very little equalization was required to achieve a great performance. We foresee many more successful Community installations in the Pinellas School District’s auditoriums.”
Vetter agreed, “BCI and Keene Acoustics were a dream to work with. Their understanding of the complexity of the project was top-notch. Many logistical issues needed to be addressed, and the project needed to be completed in a very short time. We couldn’t be happier with the sound quality and the system design.”
