Elite solution for Budget Application

inDESIGN iD-BGM6 & EZ8-15MK2

Nestled in the bushland shadow of Canberra’s Black Mountain, Alivio Tourist Park is a holiday and relaxation venue consisting of cabins and villas and centred around a big building, colloquially known as the ‘Clubhouse’. This hub comprises a general store, wood fired pizza restaurant, bar, games rooms for the kids and plenty of undercover areas for relaxation or looking out over the outdoor activity spaces.
The clubhouse recently underwent some renovations and overhauls.

As these renewals had moved some and added more zones, it was time to upgrade the audio along with the buildings. In the five years of the current GM’s tenure, the original 11-year-old audio system had never skipped a beat. He was keen to re-employ the firm that kept it all so stable for so long and trawled through paperwork to find details for original installers Elite Event Technology.

Job outline

Elite Sales and Installations manager Kevin Abbott and Elite Managing Director Darren Russell got involved and met with the client. The brief called for audio to 12 zones (up from three) and speaker systems that had “a bit of stick”.

The main audio zone is nearby the kid’s waterpark and had to overcome the high background ambient noise floor that playing children bring. Further, Alivio also has a big screen on the wall of the covered deck area and management wanted to have complimentary audio for screening popular events like the footy and Melbourne Cup.

They were after a result with high SPL and reasonable bottom end but they wanted it all on a budget. Kevin asked himself “What’s the biggest, best thing we can get in there for a good price?” As often happens with AV and building, Elite were engaged after the renovations were well under way, so discrete pre-wires and mounting solutions were limited. There was no room for bulky subs and restricted cabling options meant deploying a full range speaker.

The gear used

Darren, Kevin and Elite’s answer was to install 12 inDESIGN iD-BGM6 in three runs of four for the main covered deck area. These two-way plastic cabinets use a high impedance transformer, a 6” LF driver and a 1” dome tweeter. The construction of the ceiling has no cavity for flush mounts so a surface mount was required. The only available mounting point was along the aluminium lighting tracks but the BGM6 speakers fit neatly and discretely along there.

• 

• 

• 

The DSP was upgraded to a Yamaha MTX and some more Yamaha amps added to complement the existing Crown units. Whole system control is achieved via custom software loaded to roaming iPads in ruggedised cases. A dedicated Pakedge WiFi network with high power access points covers all control zones. From Darren: “The clients are just loving that. They are extremely happy.”

Secondary spaces like toilets and other peripheral areas use another 12 inDESIGN EZ8-15MK2 flush-mounts. The Elite crew like to refer to these as “Easy 8s” – the 8″ coaxially loaded two-way speakers are a dream for installers. EZ by name and easy to install.

According to Darren “They have this ingenious installation method where, basically, you don’t need a screw gun as each speaker comes with a little plastic tool. You cut the hole, terminate the speaker, set the tap, pop the unit in the main hole and the tool goes click, click, four times and you’re done.

“We did a shopping centre with about 180 of them in it and the guys were doing night time fit offs. It only took five crew with three scissor lifts less than 24 hours all up. They sound good too!”

• 

• 

• 

Fit for purpose / bang for buck

Darren had trialled an earlier version of the inDESIGN surface mounts and found them not quite there. When he heard the BGM6 he was impressed but when he saw the price point, he was blown away. “These units are a huge step up. They’re good – almost a bit too good for the money!”

Elite conducted A-B testing against their regular premium 6” install speaker and found minimal difference in sound quality. The BGM6 are now their “budget job go-to unit”, particularly when bought by the pallet load, further enhancing the margin.

Back at Alivio, Darren commissioned the new audio system with very little tweaking. “Stuck the reference mic out there, fired up the software and adjusted maybe two notches at 3 dB! And it sounds really good too.” It also looks good, with inDESIGN units available in both black or white, a rarity at the lower price points. “Little things like that where they’ve gone the extra mile make a difference” to installers like Elite. NAS have spent a lot of time and effort working with the design team at inDESIGN and it’s starting to pay off.

Finale

This job went ahead through lockdown. Venue management not only honoured their quote acceptance but opted to use the quiet period as an opportunity to get all the disruptive work out of the way while their customers were kept at home. Elite responded promptly and delivered a lower budget job with higher end outcomes. It seems that everyone was happy with the result.

CX Magazine – July 2020   

LIGHTING  |  AUDIO  |  VIDEO  |  STAGING  |  INTEGRATION

Entertainment technology news and issues for Australia and New Zealand
– in print and free online www.cxnetwork.com.au

© VCS Creative Publishing