Ministry of Sound London Upgrades Sound With BSS Audio To Provide Site-Wide Digital Control

May 18, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The Ministry of Sound nightclub in London recently completed an ambitious renovation that included an upgraded sound system with a BSS Audio Soundweb™ London network to provide site-wide control of audio processing.

A total of four Soundweb London BLU-800 devices have been installed, along with three BLU-320 devices and three BLU-10 programmable controllers. They are stationed in the VIP Room, at the front door/tunnel and in the former lounge area. The system replaces a Soundweb Original system, and the new Soundweb London system in the club will operate via Harman’s HiQnet System Architect™.

Alex Barrand, head of production at Ministry of Sound confirmed that this is the latest phase that is part of a progressive upgrade. “We are running the new Soundweb London set up through CobraNet®, which is now becoming the industry standard. All audio channels are packaged into bundles for distribution around the club — this means that incoming broadcasters, such as the BBC, can literally hook into the bundles for instant audio, which makes everything a lot simpler.”

“It was a good opportunity to reconfigure the original Soundweb design and we now have so much more control. For example each speaker stack can be managed individually. Soundweb London gives us radio broadcast quality and we can pull the system right up,” Barrand added.

Because of Soundweb London’s flexibility and configurability, they have simply been able to replace 15 Soundweb Original 9000 series devices with just 10 of the new Soundweb London devices. It gives them more DSP and they can do a lot more with fewer physical devices. It’s a more compact solution, and using HiQnet™ London Architect, more flexible from a programming point of view,” stated Barrand.

Ministry of Sound will continue with more Harman upgrades, next upgrading to newer Crown Amplifiers. Macro-Tech MAi-5000i and MAi-1200i will replace their existing Macro-Tech Vz series amps.

BSS Audio is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, and Soundcraft®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

Harman HiQnet™ is the world's first connectivity and control protocol that integrates all product categories in the signal chain for professional audio systems of all types, size, and applications. Harman HiQnet no longer requires the user to manage multiple disparate operating systems or be responsible for programming individual signal processors, speaker controllers, wireless microphone systems, and mixing consoles. HiQnet was developed by engineers from across the Harman Pro Group and is coordinated by the System Development and Integration Group (SDIG), a team of dedicated systems specialists based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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