Arizona State Legislature employed ASPEN digital audio processors from Rio Rancho, NM-based Lectrosonics, all controlled by Intent Digital’s Energize Dynamic Control System, to fix the problem of speech intelligibility so that members of the legislature can communicate effectively.
- Phoenix, AZ-based Intent Digital is a design and build firm that focuses on system design and engineering as well as the design and development of distinctive control systems used in AV projects for government, medical, houses of worship, and institutional clients. It was contracted to handle the facility upgrade that included Lectrosonics ASPEN SPNConference interface and power amplification units used in conjunction with ASPEN SPN2412 24 input and 12 output audio processors.
“The two ASPEN systems—one each for the Senate and House of Representatives—are interfaced with our firm’s Energize Control System,” said technology partner, Intet Digital, Bob Ginger. "The design commenced in December 2012 and installation began in January 2013. The project had to be done while the Legislature was in session, so much of the work was performed on Fridays and Saturdays when meetings were not scheduled. The first set of mixers were activated in early February and the rest were brought on line progressively. The last set was activated at the end of March.”
The Intent Digital team deployed a single Lectrosonics ASPEN SPNConference unit in the Arizona Senate. It is interfaced with three ASPEN SPN2412 processors. This system is configured as a 72 by 36 matrix.
Another SPNConference unit was interfaced with five more ASPEN SPN2412 processors for the Arizona House of Representatives. This system is configured as a 120 by 60 matrix.
Additional equipment used with the Lectrosonics system in the Senate include 52 Shure gooseneck microphones, 50 Tannoy CMS501 loudspeakers, one JBL CBT50LA Constant beamwidth loudspeaker, two Crown CT875 eight channel amplifiers, and a Crown XFMR4 transformer panel. There are 112 Shure gooseneck microphones, 55 Tannoy CMS501 loudspeakers, 12 Tannoy Di5 loudspeakers, four Crown CT875 eight channel amplifiers, plus a Crown XFMR4 transformer panel for the House of Representatives.
“In both legislative bodies, these systems handle all audio for the various public committee hearings and voting sessions," said Ginger. "The Senate has four hearing rooms while the House has five. Both Aspen systems are controlled as one system via the Intent Digital Energize control system 19-inch touch panel, which is located at the Arizona Capitol Television Master Control. Furthermore, there are Energize single gang touch panels in the Senate hearing rooms for basic room audio control. The Aspen system handles mixing of wired and wireless microphones in all rooms, as well as telephone conferencing, mix minus, press feeds, assisted listening feeds, recording and broadcast feeds, and room combining functions.”
“The ASPEN system is tailor made for this type of application, as its architecture is optimized for matrix mixing, equalization, feedback elimination, and auto-gain without having to program a DSP project," Ginger said. "Having 48 mix busses available to create a multitude of program and mix minus feeds that can be sent to any combination of outputs at differing operating levels is a very powerful aspect of the ASPEN processors. The Energize control system operates seamlessly with the ASPEN processors to create any project configuration. The ASPEN system can store the base default operating settings and Energize keeps track of the dynamically changing parameters. Therefore, if the system has to be restarted, Energize will set all the ASPEN levels to the last good setting.”
