The 38,000sqft space, nearly half of which is reserved for a comprehensive gym, is one of the world’s leading facilities of its kind and despite having no physical walls is effectively divided into four separate audio zones.
LSU’s non-technical staff and athletes can easily operate the system from Crestron control panels driven by Ashly Audio Protea DSP, with power provided by high-fidelity, workhorse Ashly Audio KLR-series amplifiers.
Baton Rouge AV integration firm Sound-Advice USA designed and installed the sound reinforcement system at LSU’s gymnastics training facility. “The gymnastics programme at LSU wanted a system that could accommodate many inputs across many zones, which required Ashly’s customisable control and its ability to work well with the Crestron interfaces that they wanted,” explained Richard Hale, founder and president of Sound-Advice USA.
An Ashly ne24.24M Protea Digital Matrix Processor sits at the heart of the main gymnasium system and interfaces with a Crestron control system to allow non-technical staff and athletes to operate the system. “Ashly’s customisable DSP and user-interface controls have always worked well with the Crestron systems we like to install in larger facilities,” said Hale. “At LSU, the Crestron control panels provide input selection and virtual volume faders that are easy for the folks who control it to understand and manipulate. It simplifies operation so the training and learning curve for the coaches and athletes is minimised. Based on our past success, it’s a recipe we don’t want to mess with.”
In addition to Ashly DSP, Hale installed two Ashly KLR-5000 dual-channel, 2,500W per channel amplifiers to power a Danley Sound Labs subwoofer and seven Ashly KLR-3200 dual-channel amplifiers to power the room’s Danley loudspeakers, as well as in-ceiling loudspeakers in the lobby, lounge, and conference room. The versatile KLR-3200 is rated at 1,600W into 2 Ohms or 800W @ 70V, so one power amplifier can power a Low-Z zone plus a separate zone of 70V in-ceiling speakers. Hale was also able to call on the Ashly ne24.24M’s surplus processing power to handle DSP in the athlete’s lounge and in the conference room (where reinforcement for remote meeting participants also falls under its duties).
“We’re proud of the new LSU gymnastics training facility, and so is the school,” Hale concluded. “They’ve called it the ‘crown jewel’ of their programme!”
