East Carolina University recently completed its new $55 million Science and Technology building on the school’s Greenville, N.C., campus. Assigned the task of creating the audio/visual system for the new building was Pittsburgh-based The Sextant Group Inc., a national consulting and design firm that specializes in high-tech environments.
The sound reinforcement for the four main lecture halls was accomplished through the use of surround sound audio systems with left/center/right loudspeakers mounted behind projection screens in each lecture hall, and additional surround sound loudspeakers located around the perimeter of each lecture hall.
To deliver the clarity and intelligibility that was demanded, The Sextant Group specified three Bag End Opal Time-Aligned speaker systems and 10 Bag End TA6000 Time-Aligned midrange loudspeaker systems for each lecture hall, a total of 12 Opals and 40 TA6000s.
The Time-Aligned Opal delivers high output and fidelity in a compact enclosure. It is a two-way ported system containing a 12-inch high-efficiency cone driver and a high-compression driver with a 3-inch voice coil driving a custom-designed high-frequency wave guide.
The TA6000 is a Time-Aligned compact speech range high-output system that contains two 6.5-inch cones with 1.5-inch voice coils and a high-frequency bi-radial horn.
After working with the new audio system this year, ECU audio supervisor Tom Irons said, “It’s working great, fantastically well. The sound system has been nothing but a positive experience.”
A spokesperson for The Sextant Group said, “Science and technology have become increasingly inseparable as advanced multimedia systems and simulation techniques enhance the scientific learning environment. Laboratory and teaching facilities must provide a new level of sophistication previously unseen while enabling flexibility in the application of instructional technologies that both supports and encourages change.”
For more information on the Bag End products, visit www.bagend.com. For more information on The Sextant Group, please go to www.TheSextantGroup.com. To find out more about East Carolina University, visit www.ecu.edu.
