EampE installs EAW at Gardens by the Bay
Published: ASIA
SINGAPORE: Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd has completed a substantial EAW speaker installation at Gardens by the Bay, a conservatory complex located by the Marina Bay Sands resort. Comprised of the Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central waterfront gardens, the 101-hectare complex is home to two energy efficient conservatories named the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest.
Having installed over 6,000 speakers into the Marina Bay Sands resort, E&E was asked to provide a sound system to supply ambient music into each of the domes. The larger 1.2-hectare Flower Dome replicates cool dry conditions and features permanent displays of plants found in the Mediterranean and semi-tropical regions, whilst the 0.8-hectare Cloud Forest is home to plants from cool, moist conditions found in tropical mountain regions.
Approximately 80 EAW SMS4 weatherproof speakers now reside amongst orchids, cacti and other plants in the domes, which require irrigation and moisture in which to thrive. Waterproof and weather resistant boxes were a necessity here, which is one of the reasons the SMS4s were suited for the project. Operating in 70V line mode, the black 5-inch speakers are equipped with built-in multi-tap transformers and are attached to ground-based adjustable brackets.
Powered by Ashly NE (network enabled) series amplifiers from a central control room, the speakers in each dome are controlled in their six designated zones via a Symnet DSP. Meanwhile, a Crestron 7-inch touchscreen allows the facility manager to manage a host of devices – including the source and volume of the speakers. The various music sources are stored and played from a Tascam X-48 digital audio workstation before being processed by a Symnet Cobra 8x8 Express DSP unit controlled from an Ethernet network.
‘We were invited on site quite late and the plants were already in the ground, so we had to carefully position the SMS4 speakers around them,’ explained project manager Kari Kalan. ‘The Belden cable was hard to push through the conduits from the central control rooms in each dome, and some simply did not exist so we had to dig new trenches before laying new conduits.’
E&E is due to complete its work on site in June 2012, coinciding with the completion of large tree-like structures known as Supertrees, which will be installed with 48 EAW MK8196 8-inch speakers and 12 SB180z WP subwoofers.
The project is being developed in phases: Bay South is nearing completion and is due to open in June 2012, whilst Bay East and Bay Central await their inaugurations.