EMERYVILLE, CALIF., Jan. 30, 2019 – When the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto, Calif., built a two-story learning center to accommodate up to four events at once, they turned to Advanced Systems Group (ASG), a leading media technology and engineering firm, to install a flexible AV system to support it.
The cornerstone of the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life, the Oshman Family JCC has nine buildings and hosts a variety of cultural programs, shows, and lectures. Its new learning center, which opened in October, can accommodate 160 people on the first floor and 70 people on the second floor. Each floor can also be divided in half by a moveable air wall, so the building can be separated into four separate areas.
Each of the four interactive presentation areas includes an Optoma ZU510T-W laser phosphor projector, Kramer KT-107S touch panel, and Yamaha surface-mount and ceiling speakers. The rooms also use HRT’s Huddle Hub One wireless presentation system, which provides unique wireless screen sharing options for presenters and audience members. The center’s audio system is built around the Yamaha MRX7-D DSP processor with an EXi8 analog input expansion unit and XMV4140-D Dante digital audio network input, while the video system works through a Kramer VS‑1616D matrix switcher and controller.
All four areas are well isolated, so there is no bleeding of sound between them when the air walls are in place. Jodie Capriotti, sales account manager for ASG, said the new construction made installation relatively easy, but the building’s hard floors and large glass doors and windows were reflective surfaces that posed an audio challenge during the design process. “The modular, expandable, and easy-to-install Yamaha CIS system was ideal for this application,” she added.
“It’s a wonderful space with incredibly good sounding rooms,” said Giulio Fregni, Oshman Family JCC technical manager of event services. “They are the best rooms in terms of sound on campus. By having in-ceiling and on-wall speakers as well as a subwoofer, you don’t get the feeling of a ‘telephone conversation’ you get with limited speakers. You have a much richer sound, with full highs and lows.”
While each area has several speakers and supports multiple microphones, the Yamaha MRX7-D offers feedback suppression that does not distort the sound. “It’s really amazing,” Fregni said. “It kills the feedback immediately. I’m very, very happy with it.”
The learning center was built overlooking to a new sports field, which was equipped with distribution boxes so audio from the center can be sent to the field and vice versa. Sensors on the first floor prevent the projector screens from lowering if the bi-folding doors facing the field are open. Additional sensors on both floors detect whether the partition is open or closed, so the AV system knows to combine video and audio signals for one room or two.
“ASG helped me in finding a neat and functional solution,” Fregni added. “Kramer put me in touch with ASG, and I’m so glad they did. ASG was very flexible and helped me throughout the process.”
About ASG:
Based in Northern California with offices in the New York Metro Area, Los Angeles, Pacific Northwest, Houston, and the Rocky Mountain Region, Advanced Systems Group LLC of Emeryville, Calif., has provided engineering, systems, integration, support, and training to the multimedia creative and corporate video markets since 1997. With unmatched experience in high-speed shared storage, media asset management, archiving, editing, color and VFX systems, ASG has become one of the largest installers of post-production and shared storage systems in North America. Highly focused on customer success, the ASG team has installed and supported more than 500 storage networks, along with production and post-production systems. As part of its complete solution approach, ASG also offers a range of managed services, providing expert staffing for media production and IT services on a temporary or ongoing basis. For more information, visit www.asgllc.com or call 510-654-8300.
