Lectrosonics, Inc.
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
United States
Naples,
FL – October, 2014…
With a history dating back to 1949—when worship services were held on the porch
of the original Naples Beach Hotel— Trinity-by-the-Cove Episcopal Church is a
small, beautifully maintained and picturesque house of worship originally designed by Palm Beach architect
Howard Major. The church recently completed a significant renovation that
includes a substantial upgrade of the sound reinforcement system in the
sanctuary. And at the heart of that new system is Aspen Series signal
processing drawn from the catalog of Rio Rancho, NM-based Lectrosonics.
Chicago, IL-based Kirkegaard Associates
(“KA”), which provides consulting services in architectural acoustics, noise
control, and audio-video systems, was contracted to evaluate and, ultimately
provide recommendations for AV and acoustic improvement at the church. Jonathan
Darling, Senior Consultant at KA, served as both the AV system designer and
project manager. John Fenstermaker, Director of Music at Trinity-by-the-Cove,
worked closely with Darling on the upgraded sound system, and Chris Burney of
Naples, FL-based Scientific Sound handled the installation. Darling discussed
the various considerations that ultimately resulted in the selection of the
Lectrosonics Aspen SPN1612 audio processor.
“Trinity-by-the-Cove is an absolutely
beautiful structure,” Darling reports. “The church is subtly cruciform in
design with small transepts on either side of the nave seating. The church
includes a wonderful organ and services feature a fine small choir. We chose
the Aspen SPN1612 processor because of Lectrosonics’ reputation for superior
sound quality, its ability to handle all system connections in one DSP unit,
its input capability, and because of its ability to be controlled via an Apple
iPad.
Scientific Sound’s Chris Burney added, “The
Lectrosonics Aspen was our first choice because of dependability. Scientific
Sound Systems has been using Lectrosonics for many years and they are always
our go-to processing system for automatic mixers. The open-ended architecture,
processing, and audio quality the unit provides is wonderful. We had used the Aspen
processors in previous installs—controlling them with IR/serial touch panels in
much of the same way as we did at Trinity-by-the- Cove. When it came time for the Trinity-by-the-
Cove project, we were delighted that Lectrosonics had developed the ability to
use iPads as controllers”.
“The ability to provide direct iPad control
of the processor was a feature that was of particular importance,” Darling
said. “This feature enabled us to remove a third-party control system with a
significant reduction of project cost for control equipment and programming.
There are actually two iPad controllers in the system—one portable and one
wall-mounted in the sacristy. This dual-control feature was actually custom
programmed by Lectrosonics, which they were very helpful in providing.”
The Lectrosonics Aspen SPN1612 audio
processor features 16 inputs and 12 outputs in a 2RU form factor. With
ultra-low noise input preamps, a full crosspoint matrix with 48 outputs, TCP/IP
Ethernet addressability, and ultra-low latency among its many attributes, this
processor is able to provide seamless auto-mixing and integration with echo
cancellation, analog mixing consoles, and many other types of audio system
components. With its numerous capabilities, quality technical support is
crucial should questions arise during system programming or installation. In
this regard, Lectrosonics’ technical support services proved highly beneficial
on this project.
“I had a very positive experience with
Lectrosonics’ technical support services,” Darling says. “The company’s
willingness to provide programming that would keep the two iPads
synchronized—which was not originally provided by the product—proved integral
to the success of this project.”
The Trinity-by-the-Cove project was completed
in January 2014 and, since that time, Darling reports the new sound system and
the performance of the Lectrosonics Aspen processor have been well received.
“Everyone was extremely pleased with the functionality, convenience, and sound
quality of the Aspen processor,” he said. “The speech intelligibility in the
church was significantly enhanced by a competitively priced renovation that was
aided by the quality and cost savings provided by the Aspen processor using the
iPad control option. The new system has been a win-win for all involved.”
Scientific Sound’s Chris Burney was equally
enthusiastic of the project’s outcome, “With the success of the
Trinity-by-the-Cove dual IPad control project in the books, our designer Kurtis
August has designed and is installing another system—this one with two ASPEN
SPN2412’s and dual IPad control for the local government boardroom. It’s an
exceptional processor.”
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