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Montana library turns to LEA Professional for its first AV system

Two 354 and two 704 amps delivered a 7.1 surround system/conference system

Lewis & Clark Library has turned to LEA Professional and Montana Pro Audio to provide innovative and reliable amplifier solutions for the installation of its first audio and video system.

Situated in Helena, Montana, the library opened its doors in 1868, and while it has moved location since its founding, it has remained a prominent historical institution in the state. For over 150 years, the facility has been providing library services to the local community. However, looking to service the community in new ways, Lewis & Clark organised a survey of local residents to gauge what other services they would like to see. With the wishes of the community taken on board, the historical institution turned to Montana Pro Audio to provide an AV system that would fulfil its needs.

Phase one of the installation involved a building wide, multi-zone paging system, and outfitting of a small AV meeting room. Phase two is set to involve the installation of a larger meeting space AV system with both 7.1 surround sound capabilities, and standard conference use. In order to bring the space to life and provide the paging system and community rooms with superior sound, Montana Pro Audio installed two of the LEA Professional CONNECT SERIES 354 amps to service the eight paging zones, and two of the CONNECT SERIES 704 amplifiers to service the phase two addition of the 7.1 surround system/conference room system.

For Ryan Johnston, CEO of Montana Pro Audio, one of many challenges of the project facing the team was in delivering consistent, articulate paging throughout a facility with several unique architectural spaces, all open to one another. To address this challenge, the team designed an eight-zone system that 2 was heavily reliant on speaker placement to isolate zones, while still keeping coverage and SPL consistent.

“The small form factor, the sleek, efficient look, and the well thought out design were all factors in our choice to use LEA CONNECT SERIES amplifiers for this job,” commented Johnston. “One of my favourite things about the design of the amps is that there are no controls on the front panel of the amplifier, so I don’t have to worry about anyone changing amplifier settings.”

Another element of LEA Professional’s grounding technology utilised on this project was its free Cloud platform which gives system integrators powerful, reliable, and secure remote monitoring and control capabilities when used with the CONNECT SERIES of IoT-Enabled professional amplifiers.

“This project was different in that it forced us to find a solution that gave us remote connectivity and control of all the system components,” said Johnston. “The LEA Cloud Connect feature took care of this and then some. It gave us the option for total control, monitoring, and system testing with a simple, well-designed GUI. The setup was easy, and I felt confident in the product right out of the box.”

Working on this project with the pandemic in the background was no mere feat, but the team at Montana Pro Audio felt supported by LEA Professional through all stages of the project.

“The LEA team is always super responsive and quick to give us answers if I had questions,” commented Aaron Fisher, business development and production manager at Montana Pro Audio. “Beyond the customer and technical support, the LEA Professional social media accounts provide a lot of videos showcasing the products and their little design gems, which has been very helpful, because these features are often overlooked while cruising through an equipment manual.”

When asked whether the team will use LEA Professional on upcoming projects Johnston replied: “I would and will be using these amplifiers again, they performed well beyond my expectations. I do believe that using LEA Professional increases the overall end value of projects.”