HARMAN Professional Solutions Delivers a Fresh Approach to Sound System Design at MGM National Harbor Casino

Tue, 04 Apr 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Technology West Group installs a complete networked audio system made up of JBL Control 300 series speakers, Crown DCI amplifiers and BSS networked audio systems

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Technology West Group recently designed and implemented a complete audio system by HARMAN Professional Solutions at MGM National Harbor, a recently opened resort and casino. MGM requested a networked audio system for the casino that would enable flexible and independent volume control across a wide range of audio zones, while also requiring minimal training and maintenance for staff. Leveraging years of experience with casino audio systems, Technology West Group deployed a complete HARMAN networked audio system consisting of JBL Control 300 Series speakers, Crown DCI Series amplifiers and BSS networked audio systems. The complete HARMAN solution offers exceptional sound quality, flexibility and ease of operation, enabling the MGM casino to control the audio for different gaming areas and easily expand the system as their needs evolve.

“Walking into National Harbor, we knew it was going to be HARMAN products,” said Richard Reisig, General Manager at Technology West Group. “In an MGM project, everything is designed around the idea that it has to be managed and maintained with the minimal amount of capital, training and staff. It costs a lot of money to train people, and they didn’t want to work with different platforms for the amplifiers, speakers and DSP systems. HARMAN’s integrated platform was the key decision factor for implementing a complete solution.”

In the past, each MGM property was in charge of designing its own sound system. Around four years ago, Technology Group West met with the MGM multimedia division and came up with a plan to standardize audio systems across all properties. They began looking for a technology provider that could provide cost-effective end-to-end networked audio systems that could be managed with very few staff. After careful consideration, they decided to standardize using HARMAN solutions across the board.

The system TWG designed for MGM National Harbor is made up of JBL Control Contractor Series speakers, with approximately 500 Control 328CT in-ceiling loudspeakers and 70 Control 312CS in-ceiling subwoofers installed in the casino. The system is powered by Crown DriveCore™ Install Series amplifiers, with BSS Networked Audio Systems for signal processing and routing. There are more than 1,500 JBL speakers throughout the entire National Harbor facility.

The casino floor is divided into separate zones, which are controlled by BSS Soundweb London BLU-806 signal processors. The amplifiers and processors are installed in dedicated spaces below the casino floor, with wall-mounted control panels. The idea was to create a DMARK point, or a centralized technology hub, that enables the casino to rearrange the gaming floor without completely renovating the audio system and easily upgrade the system as their needs evolve. The entire audio system is connected via Dante AV networking, and is integrated with the video system using core networking services.

“We use lots of amp channels to create very small, manageable zones, which is a change from how casinos historically cover a space,” said Reisig. “First, it provides lots of level control options between slots and table games. Second, casinos are always rearranging the floor and moving slots, table games around, expanding or reducing poker. Giving them lots of smaller zones with independent level controls provides them the flexibility to rework the casino floor, without having to make massive renovation changes to the AV system.”

Historically, casinos typically relied on a traditional audio system design made up of a series of high-powered amplifiers driving a chain of 60-70 speakers. This approach provides even audio coverage across the entire gaming floor, but also poses several problems. Casino staff have no way of adjusting the volume for different gaming areas, so the music may be too loud in one area and too quiet in another. For example, the music near the poker tables needs to be much quieter than the slots area, since the poker players need to concentrate and communicate clearly during games. Furthermore, casino floor layouts are often rearranged annually, and any adjustment to the audio system usually requires major renovations.

“In older properties, you’ll often see traditional audio system designs that don’t work very well for the way a casino typically operates,” said Reisig. “We run into a lot of property owners who hate the way the audio system sounds. When we really dig in, it comes down to sharing speaker zones between slots and table games, or transitions between high ceilings and low ceilings. The table games need different volume levels from the slots, and even within the table games area, the customers playing blackjack might want to listen to different volume levels than the customers playing the craps tables. With MGM, we made an effort to solve those issues.”

HARMAN Professional Solutions Introduces AES67 Support Across Audio and Video Product Lines

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 09:00:00 +0000

AES67 support added to multiple HARMAN product families to deliver networked AV infrastructure

ISE (Stand #1-F6), AMSTERDAM — HARMAN Professional Solutions, the global leader in audio, video, lighting and control systems, including networked AV, today announced support of AES67 across networked audio and video product families. AES67 is a standard to enable high-performance audio-over-IP streaming interoperability between various IP-based audio networks.

New Soundweb London BLU-806DA, BLU-326DA and BLU-DA devices will support both Dante and AES67 natively and will replace the BLU-806, BLU-326 and BLU-DAN devices respectively.

The Crown DCi-DA Dante amplifiers will also support AES67 through a forthcoming firmware update.

In addition to the new Soundweb London DA processors and Crown DCi-DA amplifiers, new AMX Networked AV N2000 and N1000 Series Video encoders and decoders will be released with support for AES67 providing networked audio compatibility with BSS and Crown products. The model numbers of these encoders and decoders will be identified by the suffix A, denoting AES67.

“AMX Networked AV encoders can now stream audio digitally to a Soundweb London system and from Soundweb London to AMX Networked AV decoders,” said Tom Lureman, Large Venue Electronics Solutions Manager, HARMAN Professional Solutions. “Since the Soundweb London DA devices send and receive both AES67 and Dante simultaneously, the advanced functionality offered by Dante can be retained between compatible devices, such as HARMAN processors and amplifiers.”

Support of AES67 by HARMAN video, processor and amplifier products brings interoperability with other AES67 compatible systems and more options to facility upgrades.

A forthcoming release of HiQnet Audio Architect will include the new Soundweb London devices and updated firmware for the Crown DCi-DA amplifiers. The same release will also include a firmware update for the existing Soundweb London BLU-806, BLU-326 and BLU-DAN devices, bringing AES67 functionality to devices already deployed in the field.

Audio Architect News

HARMAN Professional Solutions Delivers a Fresh Approach to Sound System Design at MGM National Harbor Casino

HARMAN Professional Solutions Introduces AES67 Support Across Audio and Video Product Lines