Upgrading Sound in a Council Chamber

September 21, 2018

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Problem

  • Very wide and tall room
  • History of poor coverage and intelligibility
  • Two 2-way 12″ front speakers and mini-monitors to cover the entire chamber, with many dead areas
  • Minimal gain before feedback for boom-mounted council member mics

 

Solution

  • Replace existing speaker systems with a single PL-12 Plate
  • Simple Vesa mount installation
  • Even coverage to all seats in the council chamber
  • Sufficient gain before feedback to allow for maximum boom and wireless microphone performance.


Jaymarc AV of Seattle was tasked with solving coverage, intelligibility, microphone performance and gain before feedback issues that have plagued the Seattle City Council Chamber. This architecturally stunning space was acoustically sound, but the existing speaker solution of a pair of 12? 2-way flown speakers and several rear-fill monitors was not sufficient to cover this large space and presented significant audio management issues.

Council members had to lean in to speak to mounted boom mics in order to be heard from their seats and a large meeting table. Hand-held mics were deployed to both council members and visitors in order to be heard. Gain before feedback was a constant issue for sound system operators and many seats were not covered.

SCCC-1-Web-300x199The installation of a single Tectonic PL-12 Plate™ solved for all of these issues. Mounting was simple and easy, as all Tectonic Plates are Vesa™ mount compatible. One Plate, placed high up in the chamber and aimed at the back row of public seats was all that was required.

The 160° horizontal and vertical dispersion of Tectonic’s DML’s and our wide dispersion large-format ribbon transducer provide full-frequency coverage to all seats troughout the chamber.

Thanks to the Tectonic Plate’s extreme resistance to feedback, considerable gain before feedback allows for system sensitivity such that council members can now sit back in their chairs, speak normally, and allow boom mics to pick up everything said.

Wireless mics passed around to attendees who usually don’t know how to use a mic can now be boosted without undue concern for feedback.

Seattle City Council’s IT Manager, Ian Smith says, “Prior to the upgrade, our traditional speaker system didn’t properly project the voices of Council members in their meeting room. Afer installation of the new audio equipment, we’ve noted a remarkable improvement in the quality of sound, which meets the unique acoustics of the space.”

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