Harman dines with the elephants
Harman dines with the elephants
Built in 1922, The Auckland Zoo in New Zealand occupies a 40-acre lot near Auckland’s Central Business District and is now home to over 1,400 animals. It has converted its former elephant house into a restaurant and event space called the Old Elephant House, which was outfitted with a multi-zone indoor and outdoor audio system comprising JBL loudspeakers and Crown amplifiers. The installation was carried out by AV integrator Skopik and supplied by Harman’s distributor, JPro.
‘The brief was simple,’ said Jeff Sundrum, AV service and installations manager of Skopik. ‘Our client required a high-fidelity audio solution for multiple areas at the Old Elephant House, which could be used by any staff member. We selected the JBL Control Contractor series and all-weather outdoor speakers from JBL’s broad range of products because the audio quality and coverage are pristine. This ensured that the best type of speaker was utilised in each location.’
JBL’s Control 25-1 wall-mounted loudspeakers and Control 14C/T ceiling loudspeakers were installed to create a balanced sound quality and broad, consistent coverage of the indoor sections of the restaurant. Outside the venue, Skopik installed JBL AWC62 6.5-inch all-weather coaxial loudspeakers due to their 110° coverage and U-bracket for outdoor mounting at any angle. To power these, Crown’s CDi DriveCore 4|300 amplifier was chosen due to its functionality in small and medium installations. With the use of the HiQnet Motion Control app on an iPad, staff can control each speaker zone by switching sources and adjusting the levels.
‘We simplified the installation process with a four-channel Crown CDi Drivecore 4|300 amplifier, which gave us sufficient zones to work with,’ Sundrum added. ‘The CDi 4|300 speaker presets and internal DSP for JBL loudspeakers meant that we did not have to rely on any external DSP. Some basic programming on the Motion Control app allowed us to provide staff with a clean and simple-to-use interface to manage audio sources and volume in all four zones. Our client is extremely happy with the outcome.’
