Biamp Paging Products Selected for Indiana Fairgrounds

InfoComm 07
SOURCE: Biamp Systems · POSTED: 06/05/07
www.biamp.com

INFOCOMM BOOTH 9219

Biamp to Showcase New Paging Stations at Infocomm 07

With a wide range of audio solutions for paging, Biamp is showcasing its new paging stations at Booth 9219, Hall A. Most recently, Electrical Equipment Company completed an installation at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds in Indiana using Biamp's products for a full paging system.  

The new fairgrounds campus comprises 18 new buildings over approximately 15 acres and includes a main administrative building, the grandstands, a horse arena, a cattle arena and several closed and open-air exhibit barns and areas. Electrical Equipment Company worked closely with fair operators to design and install a new AV system that included local and whole-fairground paging capabilities, improved local and centralized control features for easier and faster set up in each venue, and the ability to combine sound reinforcement features of specific buildings and/or venues to accommodate special events.

To create this network, Electrical Equipment Company decided on Biamp's Nexia digital signal processor, along with an AudiaSOLO unit, and multiple Volume Select 8 and Volume 8 control panels located throughout the fairgrounds.

"We wanted to create a network that would provide full coverage for this beautiful collection of new facilities," says Gerry Murphy, director, Sales & Marketing, Electrical Equipment Company. "We were happy to see that the county was ready to make a full investment in the AV capabilities for the fairground. Their commitment allowed us to specify the newest technologies to ensure that the operators could do everything they wanted to, and then some. The finished product is a very unique system with a complexity that isn't apparent to the end-user."

In total, the system comprises five Nexias, one AudiaSOLO, two Biamp Logic boxes, two Biamp Volume Control boxes, four Biamp Volume Select 8 boxes, and two Biamp Volume 8 boxes.  These components and control panels are installed across four different sights--The Grandstand, The Horse Arena, The Cattle Arena and The Administrative Building--on the fairgrounds.

One of the key features for the new audio system is the ability to perform paging on different levels.  At the broadest level, pages for emergencies or other critical scenarios that require important announcements interrupt the entire system throughout the whole fairgrounds.  For less critical pages, the system allows operators to make local, sight-specific pages, so that other facilities aren't unnecessarily interrupted.

To control how pages are distributed, fair operators have a custom-made, Biamp VS8 switch in the fair office, located inside the Horse Arena, which allows them to designate how a page is going to be distributed. A Biamp Logic Box receives this signal, passes it to the local Nexia processor and then distributes it to the appropriate venues via the already laid audio cable.  If it is a local page for the Horse Arena, the Nexia processes the signal, feeds it to a Crown amplifier and then out to Atlas speakers.

Chris Smock, Systems Engineer, Electrical Equipment Company, explains, "The ability to 'sort' the different pages is why we decided on a Biamp system. It was too far to run specific cable between the different venues.  We installed the Logic Boxes alongside the Nexias in each location so the operator can simply select a preset to designate a page type.  Once the page type is selected and the announcement made, the signal is sent to the appropriate venues where the local Nexia is installed so that each different type of page comes in on a different input.  The Nexia can sense which input that signal comes in on and prioritize it accordingly.

"Emergency pages interrupt audio in every venue, site-wide pages interrupt audio in every location but the arenas, building-wide pages are for the local venues only and then there are two separate pages designed specifically and only for the arenas."