The New York City Performing Arts Centre recently benefitted from a major renovation program which has transformed the iconic venue into the residence of world-class performances. The full system audio upgrade was designed by NYCC’s Augie J Propersi in association with Scott Lehrer, with acoustic consultancy from Kierkegaard Associates. Following on-site demos by TiMax distributor Duncan Crundwell of 1602Group LLC, TiMax2 Soundhub was specified as the overall system processor to provide routing, EQ and zone management plus the ground-breaking audio localization capabilities of its automated delay-matrix.
Propersi explains, “We wanted the TiMax Soundhub to matrix the main house sound system and manage speaker alignment and sound imaging within the performance space – so for all the system timings and EQ sweetening. The EQ section is very nice and overall the TiMax is so clean sounding. It is very neutral adding no coloration to the sound – it is certainly the level of quality we were looking for.
“Aside from the quality, which speaks for itself, the other big draw to TiMax was the range of connections it can handle: IO analogue, AES, MADI etc. Whatever our new system comprised, TiMax could manage it all – it’s a very impressive system.”
The NYCC’s fundamental audio chain wasn’t altered dramatically, but the existing installation needed to be updated and the effect of physical changes from the renovation had to be addressed. A compact Studer Vista 5 provides 42 channels of digital mixing and links via AES to the 48 in/out TiMax2 SoundHub matrix. The d&b loudspeaker system, ranging from J12s and B2s through Ci6s and C7s, E0s, E3s, E8s and E12s, to Q1s and Q-Subs are fed via D6 and D12 amps and AES connections from the TiMax.
The TiMax2 SoundHub unit is controlled via a multi-client system network of four dedicated Win7 computers hooked up to a four-user KVM system at mixer, amp room, RF table, and sound designer tech table, with additional wireless laptop and iPad support.
Propersi professes to be well satisfied with the end result and even now is discovering more to the TiMax2 SoundHub than first anticipated, “Once installed, we realised that we could use the TiMax for playback and sound effects, so we have future plans for that capability. If anyone were ever undecided about whether to use TiMax, I’d say come along and check ours out, decision made!”
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