Glebe Fields is a multipurpose Community Centre situated in the heart of a small Derbyshire Dales village. It is a community centre with a difference, by incorporating numerous small businesses such as hairdresser and an optician within the centre. Everything else from board games to live events takes place within the venue. The venue is able to become 1 large function suite or 3 smaller rooms, by a variety of partitions, catering to a maximum of up to 200 people.
Ultimately our brief was to focus mainly on the main room called the Derwent suite, to cater for a cinema club that had been recently formed. However the system required the versatility to be used by other groups and possibly private party hirers. Sometimes, the activities taking place would spill out into the other rooms, so zoning had to be considered. The funding predominantly came from fund raising and we had a fairly tight budget to try and get the best value for them.
We started by discussing the primary use for this particular install. Because it had been funded by the cinema group, this was our main focus. This part of the community centre when partitioned, could seat around 80 people, so by no means a large space. The venue volunteers wanted to try and create a ‘cinema experience’, so the first thing was to make sure that we installed front and rear speakers and a sub woofer unit in a 5.1 type configuration. Our main speakers of choice for their great value were the Wharfedale SX series, opting to use 10” 2 way speakers. We chose Cloud Electronics CX zoner range for the pre amplifier / mixer section, a Crown Audio power amplifier and Denon Blu Ray / DVD player. Due to floor space being quite tight, there wasn’t a permanent place for the sub bass woofer unit. We therefore installed an XLR input plate at the front of the venue space, connected back to a link out of the power amplifier. We supplied the Electrovoice ZXa1 powered sub unit, which could be brought out and plugged in as and when required.
Our Projector of choice was a Panasonic VMZ Laser 5200LM projector along with a Sapphire fully automatic 16.10 ratio 3.0 metre projector screen. Because the projector also was to be multipurpose use, such as presentations and lectures etc, we installed both front and rear HDMi plates, along with audio (Auxilliary) inputs alongside. This would enable the user to either stand at the front working with the laptop, or do a presentation by plugging the laptop in at the rear point, or simply use the auxiliary plate if only audio was required.
There is to be a 2nd phase which is to install an induction loop around the building and also install speakers in the other 2 rooms.We therefore made provisions for this. For the short term and to enable audio in the other rooms, we installed the 2 rear speakers with the option of being removed and set up in the other room or rooms. We split the speaker output to these 2 speakers, installed a speakon wall plate connector behind each one and also added further speakon wall plate to each of the other rooms. This enabled audio to all 3 of the rooms when required.
”Our brief changed a few times so several meetings took place of which Mick from Music Gear Installations attended. Once we’d decided on the best solution, Mick was keen to visit again with Ryan the install manager to check the a few things out, such as the best way to install the projector due to the sloping ceiling being quite a challenge, and finding the best solution to work round fire alarms etc! The way that the installation has been carried out has enabled any expansion to the system to take place smoothly. We’ll definitely be using MGI to carry out any further work
Roger BodeVenue Manager
