ITE mega-campus chooses dampb for auditorium
Published: ASIA
SINGAPORE: Opened in July 2010, the mega-campus that constitutes the Institute of Technical Education College West (ITE CW) replaced five smaller network campuses as part of ITE's ‘One ITE System, Three Colleges’ plan in Singapore’s new town of Choa Chu Kang. Located at the junction of Bukit Batok Road and Choa Chu Kang Way, 8,000 students are taught courses in the School of Business and Services, School of Engineering and School of InfoComm Technology whose training facilities specially cater to the retail, hospitality and automotive industry.
At the heart of this 9.54-hectare site is an auditorium surrounded by curved high rise educational classroom blocks and almost wholly covered by a high rise fabric canopy. The amphitheatre hosts concerts, events, performances and awards ceremonies on a regular basis. Lecturer Ace Yip and his colleagues enjoy an ease of set-up, courtesy of the flexible and well planned cabling infrastructure, microphone and power points that were built into the amphitheatre’s layout.
A weatherproofed fixed d&b audiotechnik Qi loudspeaker system has been installed 12m above the performance area onto a rigging system mounted onto the walls of an above walkway. The L-R system consists of three Qi1 and two Qi subwoofers per side, which are powered by three D12 amplifiers.
‘The Qi system can be dismantled and used with some portable T-series speakers we had already acquired from d&b,’ explained Mr Yip, who himself graduated at the Singapore SAE before forging a career with the likes of Sennheiser Asia and E&E. ‘The d&b audiotechnik team designed the system and they are located close by in Jurong, so service is always good.’
Concept Systems & Technologies installed the speakers with the use of a scaffolding tower. Each 400W-rated Qi1 speaker system weighs 17kg and combines dual 10-inch woofers with a 1.3-inch compression driver providing maximum power output of 135dB SPL. The single 18-inch Qi subs weigh 37kg and extend the low frequencies down to 40Hz. The 1,200W per dual channel D12 amplifiers also provide DSP control and monitoring functions via the d&b Remote network at the mix position. The d&b Remote network application is accessed on a laptop loaded with the R1 Remote control software, an R70 Ethernet to CAN interface and Cat-5 shielded twisted pair cable with shielded RJ-45 connectors connected to the D12 amplifiers.
Connected to a DME24 digital mixing engine located with the amplifiers in a control room close to the performance area, a Yamaha M7CL-48 console is used for mixing performances at the opposite end of the sunken auditorium. Sennheiser G3 evolution wireless microphones, Klotz MY206 cabling, HK Audio PRO:12M and Turbosound TXD12M stage monitors were also acquired for ITE’s sound reinforcement needs.
‘It’s a lively space and doesn’t require much amplification,’ furthered Mr Yip. ‘It was important not to put too many speakers angled correctly in this space and to have the settings done correctly. d&b fully understood what was required and as a result there is little reverb. The live music is really enhanced creating a wonderful ambiance.’