A London school’s continued growth has seen it significantly increase its AV capabilities.
Ibstock Place School has been in its current home in Roehampton, south London since 1946. In 2020 the school added a new refectory.
Designed by architects MacreanorLavington, this comprises a great hall, small hall, mezzanine level dining and sixth form study centre.
Autograph Sound was contracted to specify, design, install and commission two separate AV systems for use in the great hall and the sixth form study centre. The project was led by Adam Broom, projects and installations manager, who outlines the client brief: “Initially we were asked to install a sound system for the dining hall, a wood-lined room with a very high ceiling, which the school wanted to be able to use for events and other activities beyond dining.
It’s a large rectangular shape and the brief was to create an audio system that could be quickly reconfigured to suit two different presenter locations, at either the long or short sides. This was achieved by a combination of recallable presets on a custom control panel and a small physical adjustment of four of the eight loudspeakers when required. This refocuses the audio imaging correctly regardless of which position the presenter chooses.”
To make the system easy to use Autograph installed bespoke touchscreens which provide a custom control platform for
students, staff or the AV team.
Broom proposed an audio system based around eight Meyer Sound UPJ-1XP self-powered loudspeakers. The UPJ-1XPs are
custom coloured, using a shade provided by the architect, this was repeated throughout the project and all the accessories
(mounting brackets, wall panels etc) are painted in the same colour to blend as discreetly as possible with the room’s decor. A pair of Meyer Sound Amie subwoofers provide the low frequencies when required, while the audio processing and control is handled by a QSC Core 110f with an I/O-8 Flex channel expander, all controlled via a custom-configured TSC-80w-G2
touchscreen controller.
The wireless microphone system selected by Broom was a Shure QLXD setup including two bodypack and two handheld
transmitters (the former supplied with a pair of Point Source Audio lavalier mics). A Yamaha QL1 digital mixing console with a
single RIO1608-D2 digital stage box provides overall control of all the sound sources. Autograph also supplied a complete video display, transport and switching system for the great hall. It installed four Panasonic TH-86EQ1 86-in 4K screens, each
mounted on custom-coloured, electrically-operated Unicol Rhombus trolley, allowing the screens to be used wherever
there is power and a network point, principally for use in multi-media presentations but also for digital signage as required.
Kramer KDS-series encoders/decoders are used in the video data transport network, and a Sonifex audio converter interfaces video sound with the audio system. The sixth form study centre has been designed principally as a study location with dedicated AV facilities for teaching and presentations, but those facilities are on a digital network, so audio and video content can be brought in from the great hall if it’s needed as an overflow teaching space. Autograph also supplied a wall-mounted Panasonic RZ770 projector along with a Draper Premier screen (recessed into the ceiling and operated electrically), while a pair of custom-coloured Martin Audio CDD6W loudspeakers, wall-mounted and powered by a single VIA250 amplifier complete the audio system.
Andy Ward, theatre technical manager at Ibstock Place School says: “We needed a system that was simple, with as little day-today input from me as possible. At the same time, it needed to be completely technically flexible for large events. The intuitive user interface makes everything a breeze.”
KIT LIST
Audio
Martin Audio CDD6W loudspeakers, VIA2502 amplifiers
Meyer Sound UPJ-1XP loudspeakers, Amie subwoofers
Point Source C0-8WL-SH-BL lavalier microphones
QSC TSC-80w-G2-BK 8in touchscreen, Q-Sys Core 110f processor, I/O-8 Flex channel expander
Shure QLXD14UK-K51 QLX-D bodypack systems, QLXD24UK/B58-K51 QLX-D handheld system
Yamaha QL1 mixing console, RIO-1608-D2 stage box
Video
AtteroTech Bluetooth single gang wall plate
Draper 348cm 16:19 projection screen
Kramer KDS-EN6, KDS-DEC6 encoders
Panasonic RZ770 projector, TH-86EQ1 4K displays
Sonifex Redbox RB-UL2 2-channel balancer
Unicol Rhombus Trolley