Housed in a landmark building, the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC), a premier athletic, social, and dining club for business, professional and civic leaders that’s been a St. Louis institution since 1903, recently upgraded its A/V system in the 550-capacity Missouri Room that hosts banquets and receptions.
TSI-Global (St. Charles, MO) was responsible for the design and installation of the new system. “The ceiling and walls are decorated with ornate plaster relief carvings,” explains Steve Keller, senior account manager at TSI-Global, who headed up the project. “This, along with the age of the building, offered unique challenges of finding ways to mount large projection screens and loudspeakers while maintaining the look and feel of this classically elegant room.”
TSI-Global selected 10 Yamaha Commercial Audio IF2208W loudspeakers, custom-painted to match the decor, to head up the system. The loudspeakers are processed using a new Yamaha CIS (Commercial Installation Solution) MTX3.
TSI installed four DCP1v4S units to control six audio sources (three wall plate inputs, two Sennheiser wireless microphones, and a DVD player). Two controllers are on the first floor and two controllers are in the balcony with duplicate controls so that the volume of any source can be controlled either upstairs or downstairs.
Keller notes the Yamaha IF loudspeakers were chosen for their wide dispersion and rotatable horns (they’re mounted horizontally with the horns rotated), and that the Yamaha CIS MTX3 processor is a cost-effective DSP. Combined with the controllers, this set-up became a simple way to control the individual source volume. “Being able to daisy chain the controllers simplified the installation as well,” he adds.
“We needed to replace an aging sound system that was overly complex and was unable to achieve adequate sound levels without feedback,” says Rick Garrett, director of technology for the Missouri Athletic Club. “It was also very important to our staff and membership that any fixed installations not disturb the aesthetics of our 100 year-old grand ballroom.
“The new system was designed to be simple enough for use without the aid of tech support and still provide us the flexibility to accommodate very complex and elaborate audio/visual events when required.”
Garrett adds that the club’s managers, employees, and members were excited to see how well the new loudspeakers blended into th existing décor. “More importantly, he adds, “with our new Yamaha system, we are finally able to achieve excellent volume levels and sound quality without the noise and feedback we had with our old system.”