Equestrian School in Austria Hits Target with BSS® Audio Soundwebâ„¢ London Installation

In a unique and challenging audio project, BSS Audio was chosen for sound processing at the new Glock Horse Performance Center in the Austrian town of Treffen bei Villach, in Carinthia. The school, named after its sponsor, Austrian firearms manufacturing Gaston Glock, needed the capability to provide consistent audio coverage across the facility's four riding halls. The installation was performed by Musik-Aktiv with the assistance of Harman Professional distributor Kain Audio.

The facility deploys four Soundweb London BLU-160 devices and four BLU-BOB 8-channel output expanders, placed on the Soundweb London fault-tolerant digital audio bus. The two mobile racks are configured identically and the digital audio bus audio channels can be connected at four different points. Feeding the BLU-BOB devices, source inputs include four wireless commentator microphones (with pre-programmed ducking function), and a small external Soundcraft® mixer.

“The requirement was for a new system that would provide even coverage at sufficient volume, with excellent speech intelligibility,” said Kain's IT and Applications Engineer, Iuliu Varga.

One rack is assigned to the first two riding halls and the second to the other two halls, with expandability provided for future outdoor coverage requirements. Since they are identical, the two racks also serve as redundant units.

“The digital audio bus channels don't need any Ethernet switches — only patch panels. We only use Gigabit Ethernet switches in the two mobile racks to connect the BLU-160, touch-computer and wireless access point,” added Varga.

Sound reinforcement is provided by JBL® CBT 70J/70E and CBT 100 asymmetrical vertical columns, which send highly concentrated sound toward the back of the venue, while down-filling a broader, less concentrated sound to the front of the venue, thereby maintaining constant pattern control. Additionally, 58 JBL Control 29AV loudspeakers, 10 JBL Control 28 loudspeakers andlo 18 JBL Control 25 loudspeakers were deployed in various other areas, all powered by Crown® XTi series amplifiers.

“Gaston Glock is a purely quality-driven manager and he wanted the best. The operators are able to use the intuitive custom control panels, created within HiQnet London Architect, and are delighted with the result,” stated Christian Kain, president, Kain Audio.

Harman HiQnetâ„¢ is the world's first connectivity and control protocol that integrates all product categories in the signal chain for professional audio systems of all types, size, and applications. Harman HiQnet no longer requires the user to manage multiple disparate operating systems or be responsible for programming individual signal processors, speaker controllers, wireless microphone systems, and mixing consoles. HiQnet was developed by engineers from across Harman's Professional Division and is coordinated by the System Development and Integration Group (SDIG), a team of dedicated systems specialists based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 11,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $3.2 billion for the last twelve months ended March 31, 2010. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE:HAR.