Recently built, the audio requirements of the Anjuman El-Saifee Community Centre in Birmingham (UK) are served by a system comprising Pan Acoustics steerable array and Audac loudspeakers powered by Powersoft’s amplification, which was installed by Direct Audio Visual.
The Dawoodi Bohra community spent years fundraising, planning and preparing to build the centre, which includes a mosque, evening school and sports hall. With funds inplace, Pete Rutherford – owner of Direct Audio Visual – was approached to serve as A/V integrator for the project.
With a background in retail, corporate and warehouses, this project was a departure for Rutherford and his team: ‘With the layout and events that were to be run in the centre, it required installed equipment run as a live event,’ he explains. ‘It was like trying to equip a nightclub venue with the what you would put in a retail environment – two different worlds meeting.’
With the building and network already part constructed, there were a number of challenges and constraints faced Rutherford and his team: ‘We had to work with cabling laid by a previous installer and make several adjustments. We also had to consider the lines of symmetry and aesthetic of the building when planning the positioning of the speakers. Time was against us and we faced some delays as we could only work in the buildings at specific times.’
Rutherford turned to Powersoft’s Ottocanali 4K4 amplifier to power the Pan Acoustics array and Audac ceiling loudspeakers. An Attero Tech Dante-networked audio interface was installed, along with Mipro microphones.
‘We’ve been working with Powersoft amplifiers for the last two-and-a-half years, and I put them in whenever I get the chance,’ Rutherford says. ‘I’d also previously worked with the Ottocanali before in distribution centres with requirements similar to this, and found it very effective and efficient. I’ve never had any problems reliability-wise.’
A flexible and reliable eight-channel power amplifier with up to a total of 4k W at 4Ω, the Ottocanali 4K4 is well suited to multi-zone applications in small-to-mid scale installs, and supports any combination of lo-Z loudspeakers, mono-bridgeable channel pairs and 70V/100V Hi-Z distributed lines with no need for output step-up transformers. The amplifier’s efficiency keeps operational cost and carbon footprint to a minimum.
‘We’ve steadily built our credentials in the house of worship sector, where intelligibility is understandably high on the list of priorities,’ says EMEA Business Development Manager for the fixed install market, Marc Kocks. ‘The Ottocanali 4K4 addresses the challenges, where sound distribution must be uniform, easy to control and reliable. It provides clarity throughout the dynamic range, whether it be speech or music reproduction – in a sonically-unforgiving venue with high ceilings and highly reflective surfaces.
‘Our install-dedicated amplifier platforms can be specified with optional DSP, allowing total control over the sound signal. Inbuilt protection ensures reliability even in the most demanding conditions, while the easy to use, fully customisable interface ensures straightforward system management for untrained professionals,’ he adds.
More: www.directaudiovisual.co.uk
More: www.powersoft-audio.com
