Bose RoomMatch Keeps the Sound Clear in the Westgate Collegiate & Vocational Institute Gym

	The gymnasium of Westgate Collegiate & Vocational Institute in Thunder Bay, Ontario, featuring a RoomMatch system from Bose Professional Systems.

The Westgate Collegiate & Vocational Institute in Thunder Bay, Ontario, was due for a change. A 1970s-era sound system resulted in lots of echoes and reflections but little in the way of intelligible sound. When Randall Anderson, regional representative for Thunder Bay-based Evolution AV was called in to evaluate the gymnasium's audio needs, he encountered more than the usual acoustical challenge of hard, reflective surfaces that smear sound -- an ongoing problem for the space's many applications, including sporting events, performances, convocation, and more. The situation called for a flexible, innovative solution -- exactly what is offered by a RoomMatch system from Bose Professional Systems.

Personnel from Bose and Evolution AV had the gym's measurements input into Bose's Modeler software, which produced three distinct possible solution paths. Anderson and Bose field engineers immediately saw the benefits available by using the RoomMatch loudspeaker modules, particularly the asymmetrical iterations. The final system as installed consists of three unique modules from the RoomMatch Asymmetrical Array Module range, which addressed Westgate Collegiate's gym by reducing side-wall reflections without the need for "yaw-in" array aiming. The design has two of the asymmetrical modules on the left side of the gym, with one asymmetrical and one symmetrical module combined for the right side cluster. The system is rounded out with a pair of RMS215 subwoofers, and two PowerMatch PM8500N networked amplifiers power all speakers. Two ESP-1240 ControlSpace DSP units provide a total of 48 I/O for the system -- enough inputs for the music events that the RoomMatch speakers will now enable the gym to host -- and two CC-64 ControlSpace control panels offer simplified user control over input and output volume levels as a user-friendly method of managing gain settings or scene selections.

"This project showed off the Bose system capabilities from start to finish," said Anderson. The Modeler software, combined with Bose's wide selection of modules with specific dispersion patterns, allowed Evolution AV to offer the client three solution scenarios, outlining the advantages of each one for their particular needs. Finally, the ESP-1240 ControlSpace DSP units allowed total customization of the system's performance parameters by Evolution AV's programmers, and the CC-64 ControlSpace control panels gave the end users just the right amount of access to and control over the system. The result was excellent," concluded Anderson. "We checked and found that we are able to get a consistent level throughout the gym, with complete speech intelligibility everywhere. RoomMatch had everything we needed."