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ICON PROVIDES ROOM COMBINE FOR OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL |
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Middleton, WI - Houses of worship are rapidly
realizing a need for combinable rooms in parish halls, as well as
in the sanctuaries themselves. These sacred spaces are often times
large but house functions which do not always require a large space,
such church meetings, Sunday school, and smaller receptions.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Newport News, Virginia, recently
found themselves in a similar predicament—the parish wished
to optimize space in the newly constructed St. Michael Hall and Conference
Center. Originally, the project was designed with elaborate touch
panel controls in each room; however, due to budgeting cutbacks, the
parish could not afford the expensive control systems. Seeking a solution
with appropriate functionality under budget constraints, Our Lady
of Mount Carmel turned to The Whitlock Group in Virginia Beach, Virginia
for design guidance. |
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"Our Lady of Mount Carmel presented a problem
experienced over and over again in the audio/video industry—a
long wish list with half the budget," explains Rodney Coronel,
Account Manager for The Whitlock Group. "Ultimately, we needed
an inexpensive solution that addressed the parish's needs while conforming
to the environment. And conforming to the environment proved no easy
task—one third of the area contained a carpeted floor and standard
drop-tile ceiling, whereas two thirds of the area contained a tiled
floor and a vaulted ceiling." |
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| Based on the environment and typical projected
use patterns, the parish decided to divide St. Michael Hall
into four combinable room groups. The area with carpeted floors
and drop-tiled ceilings would be broken into three separate
rooms, each about 20' by 50', whereas the remaining area, the
75' by 70' ballroom with tiled floor and vaulted ceiling, would
be the fourth room group. All rooms would have floor boxes for
local microphone and source inputs. |
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To complete the task, Rodney Coronel suggested
an eclectic package of audio/video equipment, including a Crown
CTS-8200 8-channel commercial power amplifier, a Kramer VP88
8x8 RGBHV/stereo audio matrix router, Christie Vivid projectors,
EV ceiling speakers, a Marantz CD changer, Shure SM-58 microphones,
and an ICON FS ( FlexiSpace ) 16x8 audio room combining matrix
mixer complete with mic/line pre-amplification card. The ICON
FS would be the heart of the parish's A/V room combine environment. |
"We had never used an ICON FS audio room
combine system before," explains Melanie McCaleb, Systems
Programmer for The Whitlock Group and Project Manager for the
St. Michael Hall install, "and frankly, I was a little
worried. By the time we ordered and received the FS system,
alterations were made to the project's design and time was running
short. We definitely could not afford to waste resources reprogramming
a matrix mixer."
The Whitlock Group was allotted about two weeks for the entire
audio/video portion of the installation—the ICON FS mixer,
however, needed to be operational in under one week.
"I
spent about four days intermittently working with the ICON FS
and FS Designer Software," continues Ms. McCaleb. "The
software was surprisingly simple on the first try and I was
able to make all the design changes quickly and efficiently.
The FS Designer Software Wizard really helped me to walk through
the installation by ensuring everything was correct and complete."
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Today, the Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish has an operational
four-room combine system complete with selectable background
music. Volume control is provided from a versatile Crestron
mini-touch control system package, whereas room combining control
is provided from a FS source panel located in an A/V rack stationed
in the parish's administrative office.
Hart Smith, the parish Director of Facilities, controls all
of the room combining and audio/video functions. "The system
is user friendly and has been very successful. The Whitlock
Group performed an excellent install."
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| Partial Equipment List |
| (1) Christie Vivid LX-20 Portable LCD Projector |
| (1) Christie Vivid LX-41 LCD Digital Video Projector |
| (1) Crestron MT-MC2W-PAK Mini-Touch Control System Package |
| (1) Crown CTS-8200 8 Channel Commercial Power Amplifier |
| (24) EV EVID C4.2 4" Ceiling Loudspeakers |
| (10) EV EVID 6.2w 6" Ceiling Loudspeakers |
| (1) ICON FS ( FlexiSpace ) 16x8 Audio Room Combining
Matrix Mixer |
| (1) ICON FS Mic/Line Preamplifier Card |
| (1) Kramer VP88 8x8 RGBHV & Stereo Audio Matrix
Router |
| (1) Marantz 5-Disc CD Changer |
| (2) Shure SM-58 Mic |
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