AX Series Tames The Wild Acoustics Of The "Dutch Dome"
How do you overcome a wild, seemingly "untamable" acoustical environment? A good place to start is EAW AX Series loudspeakers, as evidenced by this expert installation at the "Dutch Dome" - also known as the gymnasium of Holland (Michigan) High School.
This system upgrade, provided by Parkway Electric & Communications (also of Holland), was an early application of the AX Series, designed specifically to present an optimum solution in "higher horsepower" fixed installations. With dual-trapezoidal enclosures and rotatable horns, the AX Series provides an unprecedented degree of freedom to configure arrays horizontally, vertically, even in spherical sections, with EAW's exclusive CSA Technology insuring near-perfect coverage in any configuration.
The entire dome receives full-range coverage from just eight AX366 loudspeakers, which also feature a coaxial MF/HF driver that combines an 8-inch cone and a 1.4-inch exit compression driver. Gary Zandstra, sales and marketing manager for Parkway, notes that AX Series loudspeakers were a perfect fit for this project because of their tight pattern control and the ability of the cabinets to reach high SPL levels.
“The gym suffered from insufficient coverage and poor intelligibility due to the dome and to an aging sound system that wasn’t right for the space. This installation replaced an older system that had been upgraded several times over the last decade,” says Zandstra. “The gym’s main uses are for sporting events and graduation as well as sports practices. The school needed an audio system that could handle those uses but also keep up with and get over the crowd noise in the dome.”
Three EAW AX366 loudspeakers per side are flown over the spectator bleachers at 32 feet. One loudspeaker is flown at each end of the gym’s basketball court to provide coverage for end seating. “The 60-degree by 60-degree coverage pattern was perfect for the seating depth and height,” Zandstra concludes. “The pattern control of the AX Series is excellent, and they remind me of a 'baby KF750' because everything is so well time-aligned within the cabinets.”
More images of the Dutch Dome installation...
