One of Latin America’s most versatile and comprehensive exhibition and convention centres, Sao Paulo’s Expo Center Norte hosts events ranging from trade shows and conventions to corporate bookings. Requiring an upgrade of its sound system, Roberto Benedito contacted Sao Paulo-based systems integrator Soundvision.
The original sound system installed in 1993 was unintelligible and event attendees could not hear announcements, which was of great concern to the venue’s management: ‘We immediately narrowed the choice for the project down to Community’s R-Series, because of the output, directivity and intelligibility they provide,’ says Antonio Tadeu Torquato, General Director at Soundvision.
To demonstrate the performance of the R-Series, Soundvision installed a single R.5HP loudspeaker in one of the Expo Center Norte’s convention halls, leaving the venue managers extremely impressed with its performance. They promptlycommissioned Soundvision to install the new Community sound system.
The final system design includes 44 Community R.5HPT 12-inch loudspeaker systems. The three-way, coaxial, horn-loaded design of the R.5HP provides the high sensitivity and exceptional mid-range clarity required for the noisy and reverberant environments found in halls like the Expo Center. The light grey loudspeaker enclosures also blend well with the walls and ceiling of the convention center, making the system visually unobtrusive. Fewer loudspeakers were utilized for the new sound system, but the overall coverage and intelligibility was dramatically improved.
The public address system was designed so that announcements can be made from the main control centre, as well as from any of ten zones located throughout the five separate halls that make up the convention centre. The system was also required to be very easy to operate as staff need to be able to make announcements in each of the different zones.
The Community loudspeakers are powered by Crown CTs 4200 amplifiers and Soundvision opted for Harman Professional’s IDX control system. ‘Roberto Benedito and the management of Expo Center Norte are extremely pleased with the performance of the new sound system, and so are we,’ Antonio Tadeu Torquato notes.
