From A Single TV To An AV Extravaganza

What started out as a simple quote led to the ultimate challenge in this large-scale project for the prestigious Willinga Park Conference Centre, situated on the south coast of NSW. But who doesn’t love a challenge, especially when you pull it off and get to tell the story? Better Music Installations’ Garry Peadon shared his Ben Hur of an AV installation story when it came to fitting out this high-end conference centre and equestrian park nestled on 2300 acres in Bawley Point. 

Mid 2019, one week out from sheeting the new build and no cabling in place, Willinga Park Conference Centre reached out for a quote on installing a 12m x 5m video screen for their conference hall. There was also the boardroom and restaurant to be considered, which led to an entire custom-made, state-of-the-art audio-visual fit-out, becoming Better Music’s largest and most challenging job to date.

One video screen then became four. One Eventtec P3 11.5m x 3.5m screen gracing the conference room, two Eventtec P1.2 3.6m x 1.4m screens in the wings and one Eventtec P1.2 2.4m x 1.3m screen in the boardroom. Each of the screens is fed from an Extron Quantum Ultra 610 scaler so all the screens can take the signal from any source.

The audio component of the installation is where the challenges ultimately revealed themselves, with any decisions having to be made around the rooms’ architecture. CMI commissioned Fohhn and Adamson loudspeakers for the two remaining rooms and introduced Better Music to Fohhn for the first time, which Garry mentioned they had not previously heard of. The challenge with the boardroom — with a capacity of 20 pax — was due once again to the architecture of the room. Ceiling speakers were not permitted due to the strips of laser-cut wave foam that formed its structure. This plush room is also lined with leather and reported to be worth over a million dollars, so its aesthetics were paramount, and surface-mounted speakers were also not permissible. Time to think outside the speaker-box.

Welcome six Fohhn LX-10 speakers and one Fohhn AS10 sub to the rescue. Garry explained there was around 80mm between the foam strips, which needed a speaker that would fit and not be seen. These are then run through a QSC CDX4 2Q amp, providing the perfect solution to quality sound that’s still sympathetic to the room’s aesthetic requirements, and according to Garry, “They blend in nicely.” 

If there was a star of the Willinga Park Conference Centre, it would most likely be the premium conference hall, with a capacity of up to 300 pax and a multipurpose flexible layout that hosts many high-end conferences, expos, and functions. In keeping with the theme of ensuring everything is neat and seamless, tracks were custom designed for 12 Adamson IS7 line array speakers to be rolled out to the front of the stage when required, such as during band performances. The tracks can be moved to the back of the wall to blend in with the room when not needed by pushing them with a not-so-magical stainless-steel stick. No motorisation is necessary.

They have also been designed with trenches on them to recall different pre-sets such as speaker positions and centre fields. This allows for even the most unskilled to set things in motion because it’s completely automatic. The choice to use Adamson speakers here was to match a high-end system with a high-end venue. Having used Adamson speakers before, Garry noted the fact that they are small and light and fit the track well. A single Adamson IS7px also hangs neatly in the centre with two Adamson PC5s and four Adamson Point 8s distributed on the entry and back deck of the conference hall for extra coverage of the various spaces.

With so many systems in place throughout the entire venue, it was necessary to utilise the main control system that was user-friendly and could oversee all aspects of the installation. The QSC Q-SYS Core 510i was chosen for this reason, with its ability to allow any staff member to completely wirelessly push a button and have a conference up and running. Whilst having used Q-SYS on previous jobs, Better Music hadn’t used it on a job to this scale.

The mammoth project commenced in June 2019 and was completed in November, requiring a great deal of tech support. “CMI were great to deal with,” says Garry, and offered good tech support, along with tech support from QSC distributor TAG and a lot of other companies which was greatly needed.  What started out as a simple quote for a TV ended up being a project that would make any tech nerd salivate.

WILLINGA PARK CONFERENCE CENTRE: ADAMSON & FOHHN GEAR LIST
Conference Room — Audio:

• 3 x Lab Gruppen D80 amplifiers
• 1 x Lab Gruppen D40 amplifier
• 1 x Adamson IS7px loudspeaker — Centre
• 12 x Adamson IS7 loudspeakers — L&R
• 2 x Adamson PC 5 loudspeakers — Entry Deck
• 4 x Adamson Point 8 loudspeakers — Back Deck
• 2 x Adamson S118 subwoofers
• 1 x QSC TSC-7 touch screen
• 1 x AtteroTech BT2A Bluetooth receiver
• 1 x Williams Sound DL210NET hearing loop amp

Boardroom — Audio:

• 2 x Biamp Parle TCM1 hanging mics
• 6 x Fohhn LX-10 loudspeakers
• 1 x Fohhn AS10 subwoofer
• 1 x QSC CDX4.2Q amplifier
• 1 x Williams Sound DL210NET hearing loop amp

Boardroom — Video:

• 1 x Eventtec P1.2, 2.4m x 1.3m LED video screen
• 1 x QSC NV-32-H endpoint
• 1 x QSC PTZ12x72 IP camera
• 1 x QSC TSC-80 touch panel

Originally published by CX Magazine.