Renkus Heinz brings luck to Macaus Galaxy
Published: ASIA
CHINA: Renkus Heinz loudspeakers have been installed within the Galaxy Macau hotel and casino, adding sound reinforcement to a spectacular display located in the resort’s lobby intended to bring luck to casino visitors.
Although construction on the Galaxy Macau began in 2002, the destination resort officially only opened its doors on May 15th, 2011. However, its overdue emergence on the Cotai Strip certainly lends credence to the fact that Macau has now become the world’s biggest gambling destination.
Designed by Gary Goddard and developed by the Galaxy Entertainment Group, phase one of the US$1.9 billion resort incorporates 550,000 sq-m of property, including the Galaxy Macau hotel tower complete with casino and entertainment areas, in addition to the Hotel Okura and the Banyan Tree Hotel.
In Galaxy's lobby, a fountain turns into a giant roulette wheel before a giant diamond attached to a chandelier rises out of the fountain, symbolising eternal luck and prosperity to all casino-goers. The visual show, which occurs every 30 minutes, incorporates a sound spectacle as well with programmed ambient music and sound reinforcement.
To execute the diamond project, general contractor EDC requested the expert services of US-based Birket Engineering, provider of custom electrical designs and software control systems in Las Vegas, Disney Resorts and Broadway theatres for almost three decades. The company in turn sub-contracted Hong Kong based systems integrator and distributor ASCL, who established an office in Macao to facilitate and service its increasing number of contracts in recent years.
ASCL project manager Billy Wong oversaw the installation of four Renkus Heinz Iconyx speakers on each of the four ceiling columns surrounding the ‘Diamond’, while each column is further supplemented by three PN112 subwoofers. The self-powered system is further augmented by eight ceiling suspended ST8-64RW speaker cabinets. The two IC8 and two IC16 column speakers incorporate eight and 16 coaxial transducers respectively, for which each one comes with dual tweeters, improving the high frequency performance with consistent broad horizontal dispersion.
Meanwhile, integrated Renkus Heinz Audio Operations Network (RHAON) technology provides multi-channel digital audio distribution, DSP, presets and remote system management and control over a single Cat-5 cable. The lobby is acoustically challenging, but the employment of Iconyx beam steering software has solved this potential issue. Multiple sonic beams emitting from the Iconyx arrays – four and eight beams on the IC8-R and IC16-R respectively – have been individually shaped and aimed using the DSP.
The slim, unobtrusive Iconyx enclosure has established itself as an architect’s favourite as it can be flush mounted to walls and columns, blending invisibly into almost any architectural environment. However, the speakers had to be completely hidden away from view in this case.
‘The designer wanted the speakers to be concealed and so they were recessed within the vertical columns and camouflaged by customised covers,’ explained Mr Wong. ‘However, we didn’t need to worry about excessive loudspeaker cabling lengths or trunking apart from the Cat-5 cable running from each speaker to the control room as the IC8 and IC16 column speakers are powered by lightweight, integral Class-D amplifier modules. They just need a power supply. This greatly simplified the installation process, although the recesses in the ceiling in which to suspend the ST8 speakers were only 1.5m x 1.8m apertures, which we nicknamed ‘dog houses’, so we needed pretty athletic installers to perform this particular task!’
Crystal is a static feature of large illuminated minerals within the Resort surrounded by water features set against an LED wall. A large number of Renkus Heinz speakers provide a background ambience for visitors in this cleverly imitated subterranean world. The bridges crossing the water features host 12 self-powered PN121R cabinets with RHAON networking, providing DSP distribution, loudspeaker management and control. The conic horn design offers constant directivity up to 129dB peak SPL within a 55Hz to 18kHz frequency range.
A further 12 PN112R subwoofers have been positioned under the bridges to extend the lower frequencies. Whilst 12 PN121-9R speakers have been installed within the ceiling, the sound effects have been enhanced by installing within and around the crystals with the addition of nine self-powered Sygma SG81-2R speakers operating on the same RHAON platform. The speakers and connectors have been IP64 protected in order to combat the humidity from the surrounding water whilst the cabling has also been protected by the addition of rubber expanded into the conduits once laid.
The various loudspeakers in Crystal are fed via Cobranet with different sound effects and music from the same music server in the control room, located in the basement. The equipment racks here have been totally isolated from the floor by having rubber sheets inserted underneath.