JBL braves the elements at King George V School
Published: ASIA
HONG KONG: When one of Hong Kong’s schools decided to upgrade its outdoor sporting facilities, it called upon the experience of a system integrator with similar long service credentials to install its new PA system. ACE took charge of the installation, battling with Hong Kong’s hot and humid weather.
Located in the Ho Man Tin district, King George V School (KGV) is a co-educational international secondary independent school attended by 1,740 students, for which rugby and football have been traditional sports for many years, with basketball and hockey becoming increasingly popular. The school’s multi-purpose sports facility is also used by the Hong Kong rugby federation and the ESF for their own training. So when the expansive field was re-opened in late April with an artificially turfed field and markings for the various sports together with a track running the perimeter of the field, ACE also left its own markings in the form of a Harman based audio system, which is used for announcements and commentary over the various pitches and a small spectator area.
Over its 32 years in business ACE has learnt how to design audio systems in a multitude of spaces, but the humid, hot and wet conditions of Hong Kong have consistently challenged the company. The large residential tower blocks situated adjacent to the school would also prove an obstacle to the ACE designers, who were commissioned to ensure that the audio was contained to the playing fields and spectators areas with a minimum of noise pollution.
On the school side of the main playing field, the spectator area is now served by four JBL AWC129 12-inch coaxial speakers attached to two of six floodlight poles. Weather resistant to IP56 standards, a further six AWC129 speakers have been deployed on all six poles as near fills onto the pitch, whilst a further six JBL PD 5212/64 WRX cabinets provide long throw during football games. ‘This combination of PD5212 and AWC129 ensures that the players and athletes receive intelligible audio, without disturbing nearby residents,’ declared ACE project manager Tony Leung. A further four AWC129 speakers have been mounted to lighting fixtures in the basketball courts.
The entire PA system is powered by eight Crown DCi4/600 4-channel amplifiers that are rack mounted in an air conditioned control room built adjacent to the spectator area. A BSS London BLU-160 provides configurable digital signal processing for the four zone network, which has been interfaced with BLU-BIB (break-in box) and BLU-BOB (break out box) devices to create a further eight channels of analogue audio input and output expansion. Source and volume control in the auditorium, football, hockey and basketball zones can be accessed by the school’s technician via a BLU-8 remote panel.
ACE also supplied a portable PA system comprising dual JBL STX815 15-inch speakers, a Crown XTi 6000 amplifier and a Soundcraft Si Expression 1 console that can be patched in to facility panels during live events. Stored in an air conditioned unit when not in use, a Shure UR4D+ wireless microphone system has also been supplied as part of the package, which can combine up to six UR2 / Beta 58 hand held transmitters boosted by UA874WB active directional antennas. Beta 58a dynamic and Beta 87a cardioid vocal microphones have also been added to the inventory, whilst an LB596 paging microphone is used for announcements and commentary.