The Union Ballroom is a social hub at Duquesne University, a private, coeducational university founded in 1878 and located on a bluff above Pittsburgh's downtown. The room's unique split-ceiling design has in the past presented a challenge for any P.A. system in that space, but especially for the older, nondescript speakers that had served the room for years. A solution was reached with the installation of two AX366 Arrayable Install Loudspeakers from EAW®, a world leader in audio system technology. When the units were installed in November 2009 as part of an overall renovation of the system, the room's sound improved dramatically. The installation was specified and installed by McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania-based Hollowood Music and Sound, which specializes in design, installation, and service of multimedia and sound systems.

"The large concentric horn design of EAW's AX366 disperses the sound evenly throughout the room," explains Ken Coey, Commercial Sales Manager and Systems Designer at Hollowood. "The AX366 was the perfect fit for this project." Two of the loudspeaker enclosures were used, flown from the ceiling near the sidewalls, which kept reflections to a minimum.

"We used the AX366 in a similar installation recently for Franciscan University's Field house, and they were the perfect solution there, too," recalls Coey. "And the AX366's extended frequency range meant we didn't have to use a subwoofer, so that saved the school even more money without sacrificing any sound quality. My designs always start with the speakers, and EAW is always my first choice. The application-specific design of their products means I'll always have the right speaker to base a design off of."

The EAW AX366 has a horn pattern of 60° x 60°. All AX enclosures, including the companion AX122 subwoofer, have an identically sized, dual trapezoidal shape. The MF/HF transducer loads into a large, common horn via a modified version of the EAW's patented Radial Phase Plug. A unique HF waveguide is integrated within the center of the phase plug. It is acoustically transparent to the MF energy while being acoustically opaque to and acting as a waveguide for the HF energy.