Tannoy clarifies matters at the University of Wollongong
Published: ASIA
AUSTRALIA: A Tannoy QFlex digital beam steering array system was recently installed into the New South Wales-based University of Wollongong’s flagship lecture theatre. The system was installed following the theatre’s long-standing problems with intelligibility that often drew complaints from staff and pupils alike.
The lecture theatre has steep sloping banks of seating broken by wooden panels, and is surrounded by highly reverberant surfaces. In the past, this meant that the sound being projected resulted in high reverberation times, and as such students were finding it difficult hear what the lecturers were saying.
The university contacted David Allara, the national A/V manager at Cardno ITC Consultants, to help find a solution. Mr Allara brought in local Tannoy professional distributor Audio Products Group to provide preliminary modelling of the theatre using Tannoy’s Beam Engine software.
‘As well as intelligibility, the university was also keen for any new solution to be unobtrusive and aesthetically pleasing at the same time,’ said Mr Allara. ‘QFlex was selected due to its ability to provide even audio coverage from a single pair of speakers without the use of delays, and because of their design they also provided minimal architectural impact on the theatre.’
A demonstration was undertaken in conjunction with local contractors, Sturman Electronics, using a single QFlex 32. During the demonstration, the university was said to be ‘immediately impressed with the remarkably even coverage’ achieved throughout the theatre, especially given the 540-seat capacity and steeply raked seating.
For the installation, just two QFlex 32s – mounted high and almost hidden from view – were deployed to alleviate any of the acoustic problems the lecture theatre had suffered from previously.
‘Since the new QFlex system has been installed the complaints about not being able to hear the lecture have stopped,’ testified Mr Allara. ‘This kind of silence is golden for the full time A/V team at the university because it means the new audio system is doing exactly what it is supposed to do – deliver clear and natural sounding speech and music to all 540 seats. Now they can spend their valuable time elsewhere without having to worry about the audio system in the lecture theatre.’