The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) is a government-chartered, non-profit organization that promotes firearms safety and training, with particular emphasis on youth development. Although a network of affiliated shooting clubs extends the CMP’s mission and reach to every state in the union, the CMP has only two main offices: CMP North in Port Clinton, Ohio and CMP South in Anniston, Alabama.
CMP South recently completed construction on a 30,000 square-foot competition center, which includes a 20,000 square-foot range, two classrooms, an office area, and a break room.
Joey Hutto of Oxford, Alabama’s Sound Solutions provided the facility with a wonderfully flexible and simple-to-use sound system centered on a Symetrix Zone Mix 760 DSP processor. Within each room, users can adjust volume and select from a host of music sources from an intuitive Symetrix ARC-2 wall panel.
In addition, the classroom systems include wired and wireless microphones that are also selectable and adjustable from an ARC-2. Finally, Hutto tied the sound system into the building’s phone system for paging and into the building’s alarm system for, well, alarming!
Importantly, the cost-effective Zone Mix 760 helped Hutto keep within CMP’s tight budget. The CMP receives no federal funds and must raise all its moneys through membership dues, donations, and the sale of firearms.
“This was our first time specifying a Symetrix DSP product,” said Hutto. “We were looking for something programmable and easy to manipulate that was sophisticated enough to get all the zoning right. But at the same time, we didn’t want to pay for a lot of features that we didn’t need for the CMP’s modest requirements. The ARC-2 interface was perfect, anyone can just push a couple of buttons and get the room to do what they want it to do.”
In all, the system has four Symetrix ARC-2 interfaces: one in the shooting range, one in each of the classrooms, and one at the registration desk. Users can select among XM Radio, iPod dock, or a CD changer for source material. In addition, each classroom has Audio-Technica wired and wireless microphones that are selectable and adjustable from the ARC-2.
“I love the simplicity of the ARC-2, both from the programmer’s perspective and the user’s perspective,” remarked Hutto. “This was my first time ever seeing the software, and in just a couple hours I was a master and could make the ARC-2s read and perform any way that I wanted. From the user’s end, I received one comment that summed it up. The user simply smiled and said, ‘that’s just too easy!’”
The Symetrix Zone Mix 760 feeds a rack of QSC GX-5 and CX-108 amplifiers. The GX-5s power QSC AD-S82 full-range loudspeakers for the shooting range (eight total) and the classrooms (two in each room). The 70-volt CX-108 powers Altec SoundTube ceiling-mounted speakers in the office area and the break room.
Although it only recently opened, the CMP’s new competition center has already hosted one prestigious youth event: the 2008 Junior Olympic Three Position Air Rifle National Championships.
For more information:
Symetrix Website
