Virginia Science Museum offers surround sound with JBL Professional

The integrator Acuity Audiovisual has collaborated with Harman Professional Solutions to design and implement sophisticated spatial audio systems with loudspeakers JBL Professional at this American cultural facility.

Located in Richmond's historic Broad Street Station building, he Virginia Science Museum invites visitors of all ages to embark on a journey of curiosity and discovery through the cosmos. With an impressive surface area of ​​more than 20.000 m2, offers interactive exhibitions that deepen well-being, innovation and physical sciences.

Among its facilities stands out The Dome, and five-story planetarium equipped with the latest technology that transports visitors through endless immersive experiences, from touring America's national parks and venturing deep into the ocean with great white sharks to exploring the mysteries of dark matter in a particle physics lab and embarking on cosmic expeditions in search of the elusive ninth planet..

As part of a recent upgrade to projection systems, lighting and audio of its planetariums to improve the overall public experience, those responsible have modernized The Dome, as well as the planetarium Danville Science Center, museum affiliate.

In close collaboration with Harman Professional Solutions, Jamie Gorman, director of Acuity Audiovisual, has been responsible for the design and installation of an audio solution for planetariums, with speakers serie CBT de JBL Professional.

“The Science Museum planetarium projects have represented a unique and exciting opportunity for our integration team,” says Gorman.. Although he immersive audio for planetariums is not our specialty, partner with engineering Harman Professional “It allowed us to access expert resources to optimize the design and offer an impressive experience to visitors”.

The challenge of create an immersive experience within the planetarium required speaker devices capable of reaching the maximum percentage of seated patrons from each location. Gorman identified JBL CBT speakers as the ideal choice due to their wide horizontal coverage, response from linear frequency and high SPL output.

In the case of locations surround sides, Gorman used angled CBT columns horizontal to ensure coverage perpendicular to the audience seats, surpassing the capabilities of traditional cinema speakers of this type.

Besides, integrated low frequency extensions CBT1000E for front channels L-C-R, which improved vertical directivity and the consistency of volume from the front to the back of the planetarium.

At the Danville Science Center Planetarium, the solution was to integrate smaller speakers, of the models CBT70J-1 and CBT70JE-1 from JBL to guarantee an immersive audio experience adapted to the dimensions of the venue.

Both facilities have AE series subwoofers, recognized in the market for their ability to reproduce very low frequencies. Besides, Gorman strategically installed SCS surround speakers from JBL in elevated locations in both planetariums, further enhancing the effect and creating a truly immersive listening environment.

By routing audio tracks directly from the Dante outputs from audio servers to amplifiers Crown DCi, the signal chain remains digital from start to finish, guaranteeing a minimum loss of its integrity.

This meticulous approach to audio streaming plays a crucial role in preserving sound fidelity throughout immersive planetarium experiences..