A brand-new facility for Rocky Mountain Classical Academy, a charter school in Colorado Springs, is outfitted with flexible sound reinforcement systems in its gymnasium and auditorium devised by local A/V integration firm Sight & Sound Technologies and incorporating Ashly Audio network-ready DSP and nX Series amplifiers.
When unforeseen budgetary issues threatening the audio/video systems in both rooms, the school district brought in Sight & Sound Technologies to engineer a fix that would preserve the hoped-for functionality and reliability at a more affordable price.
“As sometimes happens, the new building ran into extra expenses that they hadn’t planned for,” said Kris Johnson, COO of Sight & Sound Technologies. “They brought us in, and we got as close to the original system’s functionality as we could while still passing on a savings that amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“A significant component of that was moving to Ashly processing and amplification, which offers tremendous value in performance and reliability at a much more affordable cost,” he continues. “Importantly, all of the Ashly equipment that we installed is network-ready, so we can dial into the system from our offices to make any adjustments that the school requests.”
In addition to the two sound reinforcement systems, Sight & Sound installed a Martin Professional PC-based control system with Chauvet Ovation series fixtures-based lighting system and a Panasonic HD projector/Draper motorized screen-based video system.
To handle the range of functionality anticipated in the original design, Johnson selected an Ashly ne24.24M Protea digital matrix processor that, with the help of a Crestron control system, allows users to select preset scenarios and make adjustments to individual input channels. An Ashly ne4800 4-in x 8-out Protea DSP system processor handles loudspeaker conditioning for the auditorium side, and an Ashly 3.6SP 3×6 DSP processor handles loudspeaker conditioning for the gymnasium side.
A collection of five Ashly NE and nXe-Series network amplifiers, including an ne8250 8-channel 250W amp, an nXe4002 2-channel network, 400-watt amp, two nXe8002s 2-channel network, 800-watt amps, and an nXe1.52 2-channel, 1,500-watt network amp, power the system. Tannoy VX12Q main loudspeakers with six Tannoy VX6 for fill cover the gymnasium, whereas Fulcrum Acoustic DX1595 mains with US212 subwoofers cover the auditorium.
Inputs to the system include a Behringer x32 console on a digital snake and an assortment of wired and wireless microphones. For simple events, the Crestron control system handles everything, so a tech is not needed.
“Ashly has been my go-to processor and amplifier manufacturer for years,” says Johnson. “I always know exactly what I’m going to get, and I love the programming interface. At RMCA, we did all of our programming ahead of time at the office, which made for a smooth installation. Ashly’s sound quality is excellent; it’s always clean and quiet.
“In fact, I don’t even think to worry about that any more. The Ashly Protea processing is flexible enough that we were able to give the school all of the functionality they had hoped for in the original design. Ashly’s reliability has always been bulletproof, so I know we won’t be going back to deal with flaky gear.”