SYMETRIX ZONE MIX 760 MAKES BUYING A PORSCHE A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 2008: As the premier luxury car dealership of greater Los Angeles, The Auto Gallery does things a little a differently.
When they recently opened a new Porsche showroom, The Auto Gallery contacted
AV company No Static to design a sound system that could pump club music at
SPLs that other auto dealerships could only dream of. After all, buying a
Porsche is a pretty hip experience - The Auto Gallery wanted their music to
underscore that undeniable fact!
After nearly two decades installing AV systems in LA's coolest clubs and
restaurants, and running live shows for the brightest of the entertainment
industry's luminaries, No Static owner Eugene Gordon felt more than equal to
the task. Starting with a Symetrix Zone Mix 760, he designed a system that
is as simple and elegant as it is powerful.
Although the Zone Mix 760 is - as its name implies - designed to process
sound for multiple zones, Gordon recognized that there was no need to
introduce unnecessary complications for this particular installation. He
used one zone for the entire showroom and supplied the dealership with three
input sources: DVD output, an iPod jack in the sales office, and an iPod
jack by the equipment rack. A Denon DNV210 professional-grade DVD player
feeds four 50-inch Samsung plasma screens for use with Porsche promotional
materials. The Zone Mix 760 feeds a Lab.gruppen IP 3400 power amp, which
drives six Tannoy V12 full-range loudspeakers. Finally, Gordon fed the
showroom's phone system into the Zone Mix 760 to allow for paging. Instead
of abruptly cutting off the music, he programmed the paging interrupt to
smoothly duck the music - a much more professional-sounding solution.
Although Gordon is familiar with other programmable DSP systems, this was
his first time using the Symetrix Zone Mix 760. "It was very easy and
intuitive," he said. "There was virtually no learning curve and I didn't
crack the operating manual once!" He programmed the device using a MacBook
Pro running the Symetrix software in a Windows XP virtual machine: "It
worked perfectly the first time. There was no need to monkey with anything."
In addition to standard routing, EQ, and filtering algorithms, Gordon made
use of the Zone Mix 760's complement of compressors and limiters to protect
the system from overzealous DJs. "The dealership plans to bring in DJs for
special events and parties," he explained. "My experience is that no matter
how loud and clear the system is, the DJ will want it a little bit louder.
With the Zone Mix 760, it was easy to build in protection for my client."
Of course, the end user never has to fiddle with compressors or EQs.
Instead, Gordon used a Symetrix ARC-2 wall panel controller located near the
iPod input in the sales office to allow the staff to select the input source
and adjust the volume. "It's so elegant," said Gordon. "Just three buttons:
Menu, Up, and Down. I had full control to make the input source names
meaningful, and when the interface is idle, the display defaults to 'LA Auto
Gallery.' It's a nice touch."
No Static completed the audio installation in December 2007 in anticipation
of the showroom's debut in early 2008.
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