Amphithéâtre Cogeco in Trois Rivieres, Quebec has undergone an audio, video and control integration with Luminex solutions forming the backbone of the systems. The new amphitheatre will host an array of cultural events annually from May to September including exclusive performances by Cirque du Soleil and concerts by ZZ Top.
Trizart Alliance, the Montreal-based theatre and design consulting firm, specified a Luminex solution for the amphitheatre and Boucherville, Quebec’s TKNL, which specialises in installations, events and environments, performed the audio, video and control integration. Montreal-based Solotech was the lighting integrator.
“It is great to see the entire AV and lighting infrastructure of a premium performing arts venue rely on and trust Luminex for such a important aspect of their system,” said Hugo Larin, director for Luminex in America.
A single multimode fibre ring backbone comprised of six Luminex GigaCore 16Xt PoE switches handle three main locations in the venue: the FOH mixing point, the main patch room backstage and the amplifier control room. Additional GigaCore 16Xt and GigaCore 12 managed Gb Ethernet switches are used in mobile racks as extra local network devices.
Benjamin Wahiche, technical director with TKNL and a trained Luminex technician, believes the amphitheatre is one of the first in Canada with a fully integrated AV network. “I think it’s a one-of-a-kind installation for Canada and Quebec,” said Wahiche. “I’ve never seen that kind of deployment before. Transporting the signals over the network and receiving information in time and with the right priority is the real deal. Not every protocol plays well with others, but Luminex has met that challenge. There’s nothing close to Luminex on the market that can integrate all the AV and network protocols we use and that can cope with a project of that size.”
Luminex also offered operation and maintenance: “Luminex is pretty much the only system that can run all the protocols with a user-friendly GUI,” added Wahiche. “Other systems require more programming and configuration.”
Also, since no IT staff was required the installation time and cost were reduced. All that was required by the technician on site was an assignment of Ethernet switch ports in preconfigured groups serving as different segments/protocols on a system.
Dante runs primary and secondary main audio for the Yamaha consoles, Rio stage racks, Shure ULXD4D Dante wireless receivers, Lake LM44 loudspeaker management devices, and Nexo loudspeaker and amplifier monitoring. On the same ring a Q-Sys Q-LAN Core, I/O frames, stations and paging devices for audio distribution and communication throughout the building is also present. “A single interface controls everything, and all of it is redundant,” said Wahiche.
For the amphitheater’s sACN and MA-Net2 lighting network Solotech used six Luminex Ethernet-DMX2/Truss MkII with PoE nodes and three Ethernet-DMX8 MkII nodes to provide sACN lighting data distribution throughout the building. A grandMA2 light console and NPU processor are the house control system. A complete DMX RDM-ready system allows the system tech to monitor and remotely set lighting devices, such as 48 High End Systems’ SolaSpot Pro fixtures, via a Luminex LumiNet monitor.
“We are very familiar with Luminex products having used them regularly within our rental inventory,” explained Alexandre Pecqueux, project manager with Solotech. “Integrating the equipment into a permanent infrastructure at the amphitheatre was a real pleasure.”
Amphithéâtre Cogeco technical director Daniel Savoir concluded: “I am so impressed with the number of patch possibilities and signal quality we have with the Luminex GigaCore system. I have full confidence in the network.”
