The Multnomah Athletic Club in downtown Portland, OR, US, has upgraded two of its aerobics studios to include Powersoft M28Q, M30D and M50Q amplifiers, which power an array of Fulcrum Acoustic loudspeakers in each room.
The MAC, as it is known, occupies two buildings totalling more than 550,000 sqft; the eight-level clubhouse faces directly onto Jeld-Wen Field, home of the Portland Timbers soccer club.
David R. Garlett, senior design consultant at Oregon-based Delta A/V Systems, of Gresham, designed the playback systems for the two rooms, one a spin class and the other an aerobics studio, which measure between 1200 and 2500sqft. The Powersoft M28Q, M30D and M50Q amplifiers are part of an upgrade that also included a Symetrix DSP unit, a multi-disc, multi-format player and a Crestron control system with remote control via local touch pad and Apple iOS devices.
“We incorporated pretty much every audio DSP trick known to man,” Garlett explained, “There’s a Fulcrum monitor behind the instructor that is mix-minus — it plays program but not the instructor’s microphone. The speakers are arranged in an exploded array and they are all time-aligned, with zero being the monitor behind the instructor. When the instructor speaks there’s a very fast, zero attack, ducking about 6dB, with a release of zero. When the instructor speaks it isn’t additive to the overall SPL. So what we accomplished was a system that can run at a good clip, but no one complains that it’s loud or fatiguing.”
“There are four zones out in the main studio and a graphic control that allows them to dim a given zone should someone mention that it’s a little loud for them. They can drop that zone 10dB; the net drop is probably 6dB, because you do have crossover from other zones, but it’s enough to placate the patrons.”
