The annual meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) countries is an epic, international event.
Each year, one country is chosen to host the summit and it was Canada’s turn on June 25, 2010.
In preparation for the onslaught of media, security, VIPs, and heads of state, the city of Hunstville, Ontario, began upgrades and face lifts to its facilities and infrastructure.
Fulcrum Acoustic loudspeakers were chosen for installation in the Huntsville Community Center, which served as the command and control hub for security operations during the G8 Summit.
Originally a recreation center housing an NHL-sized hockey rink and leisure pool, the facility saw the addition of an Olympic-sized ice surface to the facility and an expansion of the pool area as part of the overall infrastructure improvement plan. Anthony Lawson Audio (ALA) was chosen as the integrator for this audio system upgrade.
“The new arena seats 1,200 in a horseshoe configuration. Due to the typical arena acoustics, which were exacerbated by a flat metal ceiling in the rink, it was clear that speakers that could focus as much energy on the seats as possible without exciting the room too much would be vital,” said Jason Lavoie, project manager for ALA.
“We do a lot of hockey arenas and since we’ve been offering Fulcrum speakers as our best option when clients want a good/better/best quote, the results are always a surprise to the customer. They know they paid for the best, but they are still always surprised that an arena can sound that good.”
Fourteen Fulcrum CX1295 loudspeakers (in white) are used for audience coverage throughout the seating bowl with an additional four CX1295 loudspeakers installed directly beneath the scoreboard for ice coverage. TQ processing is achieved using Symetrix Integrator and Symnet processing.
Once installed, Arthur Skudra, Hamilton-based AV consultant, used Smaart software by Rational Acoustics to time align and calibrate the Fulcrum loudspeakers prior to system commissioning.
“My only regret in using Fulcrum loudspeakers is that it has opened my eyes to what is possible, and made me rethink the value of everything else that we sell,” said Lavoie “Fulcrum has set the bar so high that it’s hard to recommend anything else even close to the same price.”
