Visitors to the newly expanded Pasadena Convention Center will be pleased not only with the additional space that comes with the $150-million facility expansion but also with that space’s sound quality, thanks to the installation of a new sound system extension with components from EAW, a world leader in audio system technology. The expansion saw the implementation of 112 EAW CIS991 Ceiling Loudspeakers, installed by GMF Sound, Inc. of Orange, California, in a new 25,000-square-foot ballroom and two new exhibit halls that bring the facility to a total of 60,000 square feet of exhibition space.

EAW’s state-of-the-art CIS991s, part of the new CIS Series of speakers introduced last year, fit nicely within the high-tech Pasadena Convention Center, which is an LEED-certified “green” facility. Also home t o the renowned 3,000-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the Pasadena Convention Center officially reopened over the weekend of April 4-5, 2009 with the 33^rd Annual Home Remodeling & Decorating Show.

“The EAW CIS991s were the perfect choice for this installation,” says Fernando Rico, CTS, Systems Engineer at GMF Sound. “The ballroom has a very high ceiling and is divisible into ten sections. Even though the space has some acoustical treatment, the speakers had to be of a very high quality to make sure that we had very good speech intelligibility in any configuration of the room. The CIS991 performed flawlessly.”

Rico also notes that the flexibility of the CIS991’s design allowed it to be placed around the architectural and lighting necessities that were already in place when the sound system was installed. “There was a lot of trussing, lighting, and HVAC that we had to get around, and the CIS991’s wide coverage” – it features 80-degree-by-80-degree dispersion – “let us meet Len Kusovac’s (formally of Shen, Milsom & Wilke) specifications for the high speech intelligibility we needed there,” says Rico.

This installation is also one of the first large-scale deployments of the CIS991 ceiling speaker. Rico recalls that they were able to audition the speaker during an EAW road show last year. “It was great that we were able to hear and experience its sound quality locally first,” he says. “That way, we were absolutely certain it was the right choice for the project from the beginning. It’s a robust, great-sounding and cost-effective solution for large open spaces like these.”

EAW’s CIS Series of ceiling loudspeakers provide exceptional performance in large, tall structures while fitting seamlessly within ceiling installation grids. They feature a three-way design with fully appointed steel back cans with transducers already installed and that mount within 24-inch ceiling grids. The CIS991 incorporates four 5.25-inch LF cone woofers, four 4-inch MF cone woofers and a 1-inch-exit HF compression driver mounted on a large horn that fosters superior pattern control. The application of proprietary frequency shading techniques facilitates the eight cone woofers working together to provide LF output and impact equal to that of a 12-inch LF woofer.