JBL Professional CBT Series loudspeakers are at the heart of the recently finalised upgrades to the Science Museum of Virginia’s five-storey planetarium, The Dome. The central Richmond location has seen improvements to its projection, lighting and audio systems. Meanwhile, its smaller affiliate location, Danville Science Center, has also been enhanced.
The main Science Museum of Virginia spans 223,000sqft, and offers interactive exhibitions that delve into wellness, innovation and the physical sciences. The Dome Theatre transports guests through a range of immersive experiences, from traversing America’s national parks and navigating the ocean depths with great white sharks, to exploring the mysteries of dark matter and searching the cosmos for the elusive ninth planet.
Collaborating closely with HARMAN Professional Solutions, Jamie Gorman, principal of Acuity Audiovisual, identified JBL CBT loudspeakers as a good choice for creating an immersive experience due to their wide horizontal coverage, linear frequency response and high SPL output.
The speakers had to be capable of reaching the maximum number of seated patrons from each location. In the case of side surround locations, Gorman utilised horizontally angled CBT columns to ensure perpendicular coverage to the audience seating, surpassing the capabilities of traditional cinema surround speakers.
Additionally, Gorman integrated CBT1000E low-frequency extensions for the front L-C-R channels, which he said yielding enhanced vertical directivity and improved volume consistency from the front to the rear of the planetarium.
Gorman also integrated smaller JBL CBT70J-1 and CBT70JE-1 loudspeakers at the Science Museum of Virginia’s affiliate Danville Science Center planetarium to ensure an immersive audio experience tailored to the venue’s dimensions.
Gorman equipped both facilities with AE Series subwoofers known for their capacity to reproduce very low frequencies. Additionally, he strategically placed JBL SCS surround speakers at overhead locations in both planetariums, which he said enhanced the enveloping effect and creating a more immersive auditory environment.
By routing the audio tracks directly from the audio servers’ Dante outputs to Crown DCi Series amplifiers, Gorman’s signal chain remains in the digital format from start to finish, ensuring minimal loss of signal integrity.
Gorman, principal, Acuity Audiovisual, commented: “The Science Museum Planetarium projects presented a unique and exciting opportunity for our integration team. While immersive planetarium audio is not our specialty, partnering with HARMAN Professional’s engineering afforded us access to expert resources for optimising our design and delivering an awesome audio experience for Science Museum patrons.”
More than 90,000 guests annually visit the two planetariums to experience a diverse range of show programming.
