A new installation in New Zealand has exploited Symetrix systems’ use in hi-tech conference facilities and meeting spaces. Linking working spaces with flexible processing power and support for Audinate’s Dante media networking technology, SymNet Radius AEC open architecture Dante-scalable DSPs have been installed at the Auckland offices of outdoor clothing specialist Icebreaker.
Australian distributor PAVT (Production Audio Video Technology) handled the project with local integrator Videopro NZ: ‘The objective was to provide a cost-effective, professional audio solution to serve a number of small conference/meeting rooms that would run the Microsoft Lync unified communications platform, or other PC-based codecs such as Skype,’ says PAVT’s Matt Vance, a veteran of conference room projects. ‘The audio solution had to provide support for the AEC (Acoustic Echo Cancellation) algorithm, connections to professional quality microphones, and a reliable interface to PCs in each room.’
With a client keen to avoid the expense of a dedicated DSP in each room, a pair of SymNet Radius AECs was chosen to handle microphone management, mixing and routing. Coupled with Attero Tech unDIO2x2 end-points via Dante, the Symetrix DSPs allowed Vance and team ‘to design a system with centralised DSP – located in an IT rack-room – that could have its resources internally divided between rooms, while retaining high quality, low latency digital audio links to the microphones, speakers and PCs in each room.’
Attero Tech is one of a growing band of manufacturers to have partnered with Symetrix over the last 18 months to enable some of their Dante-enabled products to be completely configured through the Symetrix SymNet Composer software. Settings affecting I/O levels, routing and more can all be quickly and easily defined using the acclaimed Symetrix software package.
Audix ADX40 hanging overhead microphones and Ecler speakers complete the primary specification of the Icebreaker project. Apart from its flexibility, the completed installation also highlights the onward march of Dante-based networking – one that Symetrix has been eager to support from early on with a comprehensive range of compliant DSP products.
‘This project completely relies on Dante networking for audio transport; there are almost no analogue audio connections at all,’ says Vance. ‘Backed by Symetrix DSP expertise, the result is a very robust and reliable set-up that will serve Icebreaker well for years to come.’
