Stokes Technologies was brought in to design the A/V infrastructure for the meeting and entertainment spaces at Aloft Perth, the latest addition to Aloft Hotels’ global portfolio. Although the hotel’s specification called for patch panels to be incorporated into the system, the A/V systems integrator elected to offer an alternative using Attero Tech wall plates.
‘A patch bay only lets you send one point to another point,’ explained Aaron Mitchell, system engineer at Stokes Technologies. ‘While patch panels are fine for a recording studio, the production guys here don’t like them. Going with Dante and Attero Tech allowed us to bring all the channels to the DSP, route them wherever we want and make control easy.
‘We initially priced the job with point-to-point XLR cables but when we changed to Attero Tech wall plates and a network, we found that running one Cat-6 instead of six XLR cables can cover the cost of the wall plate. In addition, we can get electrical trades and IP trades to run and terminate our Cat cables so our brain trust can work on the programming instead of soldering cables.’
The installation covered the hotel’s W XYZ bar, Re:Mix Lounge and outdoor pool on the ground floor with seven meeting rooms on the mezzanine and a rooftop area comprising the Springs Ballroom and an outdoor terrace. ‘This is a new hotel, so it’s ground-up construction,’ noted Mr Mitchell. ‘We built a ground-level system that is networked to the mezzanine system and a rooftop system that’s connected by network switches and fibre. We have 12 spaces of background music across the ground level and mezzanine. We’re using two Attero Tech unD6IO 4-in, 2-out Dante wall plate interfaces in each mezzanine room, with balanced, switchable mic/line inputs and phantom power.’
The rooftop is equipped with seven Attero Tech wall plate locations, each comprising an unD6IO and an unDX2IO 2-in, 2-out Dante wall plate to provide additional channels. These solutions are managed from the mezzanine, 13 floors below. ‘We also used unDIO2x2 2-in, 2-out flange-mount Dante interfaces,’ said Mr Mitchell. ‘There are 170 channels of Dante going across the system, including 70 from the rooftop level. IP TV runs down the same fibre using HDMI transmission over IP.’
In the W XYZ Bar is a BGM system and a wall-mounted television that receives IP TV signals. ‘We’re taking audio from the IP TV box to a unDIO2x2 interface,’ explained Mr Mitchell. ‘This deploys it back onto the audio network, from which it can come back through the BGM speakers.’
Achieving even coverage throughout the bar was a challenge due to the narrow space, high ceilings and several obstructions. To combat this, Stokes Technologies installed a combination of pendant and flush ceiling speakers. ‘We have speakers at 6m high and at 2.5m all within one zone,’ Mr Mitchell reported. ‘We’ve got Crestron pendants in that area because of the ceiling height.’
A range of sources are set up at the start of the signal chain in the bar. Mood Music Players located on the roof level and an Essential CD player provide four BGM audio channels. There’s also a local Attero Tech unD6IO input with XLR microphones and the television. Source selection is via a Crestron touch panels. The Stoke Technologies team simplified control further by programming default states, ensuring the system functions without the touch panel.
This article is originally from www.proaudio-central.com
Please contact us for more information on Attero Tech products.