Maple Heights City Schools was looking to upgrade the Audio-Visual System in the Athletic Center at the high school. Daktronics was chosen as the Video Board provider and they selected NPI Audio Visual Solutions, a Cleveland Based AV Systems Integrator, to provide the Audio System and the Streaming Video System.
“We had a working relationship with the school from when they hosted the state wrestling tournament” explains Sam Avellone, Director of Sales for NPI Audio Visual Solution. “The existing system had poor vocal intelligibility, so we came in with a portable Electro-Voice system that solved the problem at the time. So, when it was time to solve the intelligibility issue permanently, they came to us.” The athletic center is a large brick building with multiple glass windows and a 72-foot dome ceiling. The challenge was to keep the sound off the walls and ceiling and on the fans and the main floor. “The original center cluster system was unable to control the sound,” Avellone adds. “We did an EASE plot and determined that a zoned system with independent control would provide them with the flexibility the center required. Sports and school events held in that space had vastly different audio needs. A seven-zone distributed system of EV’s point-source loudspeakers was the best solution.” Six zones cover the home and away bleachers, with the seventh zone covering the floor. The distributed system consists of eight EVH-1152D/96 loudspeakers for lower bleacher coverage, six EVH-1122D/126 to blanket the upper bleachers, and six EVH-1552D/99 for main floor coverage. Four EVF-2151D dual 15-inch subwoofers provide the low end required to keep the fans and players engaged. The result is increased vocal intelligibility and musical clarity, which was a win for Maple Heights Athletic Center. In addition, the EVH line has size coverage patterns, which made designing a 7-zone system much easier. Avellone specified three Dynacord IPX10:8 multi-channel amplifiers to power the distributed system. An additional IPX10:4 powers the sub-woofers. The amplifiers are rack-mounted in a control room located off the main floor. NPI even provided a portable operator's rack to take to the scorer’s table so the announcer could control his microphone, two wireless utility mics, and music remotely.
Phase 2 of the project involved NPI providing a permanent video system so they could web stream the games while simulcasting on the video boards as well. JVC KY-PZ200N CONNECTED CAM™ NDI®|HX enabled PTZ cameras were selected as the camera of choice for this project. “The optics are superior with JVC cameras, I will never compromise the quality of the image because of the name on the camera,” Sam states adamantly. “We have worked with other brands and found with some the image quality is inferior, pixelated, and when you're doing broadcast, especially when streaming, you've got to have a good quality image.” Sam continues, “What's happened since COVID is you now have customers that can see and hear the difference between a good stream and a bad stream. There are three things that make a good stream: sharp, crisp video, high quality audio and animated graphics. Maple Heights School District has the ability of showing 4 camera angles, 4 angles of Instant Replay and the ability of flying a lower third in and out to keep fans attention both in the Athletic Center as well as those watching the web stream.” Included among the JVC equipment installed was the multi-award-winning KM-IP8S4 CONNECTED CAM™ vMix Studio Switcher, which can manage a minimum of eight NDI inputs at 1080 60P using vMix Pro licensed software. The 2RU device is optimized for switching live programming in SD up to full HD 1080 60P and offers several output options, including one 3G-SDI, one HDMI, four DisplayPort and a Gigabit Ethernet network port. The installation also includes the RM-LP350G CONNECTED CAM™ vMix Control Surface, a desktop controller for vMix that works with the JVC KM-IP8 systems to enable traditional-style switching, and the RM-LP100 Advanced Remote PTZ Camera Controller with joystick and preset functionality.
“The school was extremely impressed with the result,” concludes Avellone. Everyone is amazed with the sound quality, video clarity, ease of use, and flexibility of the system.
Kyra Gates, the Athletic Director of Maple Heights City Schools summed it up simply when she stated, “The AV System Rocks!"
For more information, contact Sam Avellone, Director of Sales - NPI Audio Visual Solutions at 216-287-8886 or sam.avellone@npiav.com.
