SYMETRIX PLAYS AT WINGED FOOT

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MAMARONECK, NEW YORK: Squawky speakers and cumbersome controls might get a pass in many of the nation's less distinguished country clubs, but not Winged Foot Golf Club.

Located less than an hour from New York City's Grand Central Station and founded during the economic boom of the early 1920s, Winged Foot is the oldest championship course and arguably the most prestigious country club in the United States. It's where Trump plays. Arnold Palmer makes a habit of lecturing there. The membership fees are... well, steep. In its storied clubhouse, you would expect to find the absolute state-of-the-art, Rolls Royce of audio systems.

"And," said freelance acoustical contractor Greg Tobler, "you would have. Except that until I recently finished an extensive Symetrix SymNet/QSC installation that brought it to the cutting edge of 21st Century technology, it was the state-of-the-art from 1970! There were nine 70-volt amps all wired into a custom-made switcher that could turn different zones on and off. It was old school, but very sophisticated. The problem was that the system was completely inflexible and required an advanced degree in sound engineering to understand and operate it. Moreover, if someone wanted to turn the volume down in, say, the Grill Room, they had to trundle off to a closet behind the front desk. It was not the sort of smooth, transparent operation that Winged Foot's elite members expected."

Sophistication and Simplicity

With a four-year degree in sound recording technology from SUNY Fredonia and over six years of installation experience under his belt, most notably on the $20 million Allaire Studios in upstate New York, Tobler was hired to perform the upgrade based on his experience and his obvious grasp of the client's needs and expectations. "I took a lot of time going over their frustrations with the old system and exploring all the possibilities of a new system," said Tobler. "The building itself is so historical, so beautiful, that a large part of my job would be to integrate the new system invisibly into the background."

On one hand, Winged Foot's needs were simple. They needed a system that could play music in eight different zones of the clubhouse. Some of those zones would need to be able to provide reinforcement for lectures or other events. On the other hand, Winged Foot's needs were complicated. Audio from events would need to be piped from one zone to another. Different events might need simultaneous reinforcement in different zones. Master announcements would need to interrupt programming, except in zones where important events were being held. But absolutely paramount was their need for easy, intuitive control of all that functionality. "People who aren't audio engineers don't want to be audio engineers," Tobler deadpanned.

Tobler centered his powerful yet simple design on a SymNet 8x8 DSP unit, which was more than capable of executing the logic and signal processing necessary to make Winged Foot's audio sonically stellar. He used four SymNet ARC-2 Adaptive Remote Control wall panels strategically located throughout the clubhouse to allow Winged Foot's staff to control the system. Of course, users simply choose a preset configuration and a volume level. Tobler's programming of the SymNet 8x8 DSP made all of the low-level processing modifications in the background.

Zones of Influence

A visit to Winged Foot's clubhouse begins with the lobby and the adjacent Dining Room and East Room. Tobler assigned each of the three areas to a separate zone. He used existing speakers in the lobby and the Dining Room and hid two QSC AD-S52D 70-volt speakers on top of the bar in the East Room, which serves as a communal gathering area. He placed a SymNet ARC-2 interface in the Dining Room and in the East Room. Each interface allows users to make adjustments to the entire system so that, for instance, the general manager can make changes no matter where he or she is. "The great thing about the ARC-2 interface is that it has a dialog screen and three buttons - that's it!" Tobler said. "It's intrinsically simple to use. To make the system intuitive, I created 26 presets that covered all of their usual needs and I put in a few for unusual circumstances all of which can be selected from the ARC-2. Next to each interface, I placed a classy, laminated card that explains each preset. There's no guesswork and no confusion."

Because Winged Foot often hosts speeches and presentations in the Dining Room and in the East Room, Tobler installed two mic jacks in the Dining Room and connected a Sennheiser ew 165 G2 receiver to them. That way, Winged Foot could use two Sennheiser e 835 evolution Series wireless microphones in any of these three areas and, using Tobler's intuitive presets, route the mic output to the appropriate zone. "I went with Sennheiser for two reasons," explained Tobler. "First, I love the sound and durability of the e 835. It's perfectly solid. Second, the RF situation near New York is a nightmare. Sennheiser has been at the forefront of wireless technology for over half a century, so their current generation of wireless products is uniquely robust
and reliable. And that's what a place like Winged Foot expects."

Of course, every sound engineer worth his or her salt knows that getting a good mic level is essential to getting good sound reinforcement. But with no engineer on hand, how would Winged Foot's staff, who are avidly uninterested in the nuances of audio technology, achieve the level of professionalism commensurate with the club's reputation? SymNet came to the rescue! "I made extensive use of the SymNet autogain module," said Tobler. "I saw people holding mics by their belt, by their Adam's apple, you name it. The autogain smoothly brings those levels up. On the other hand, when someone practically eats the mic, compression kicks in. The upshot is that Winged Foot knows they'll have a nice, even mic volume every time they turn it on. Of course, they can adjust the output volume after the autogain."

When you go to Winged Foot to hear a casual talk by Arnold Palmer or to attend a black-tie dinner party, you'll likely head outside to the Terrace, a large outdoor patio covered by a elaborate awning. Tobler used a two-ohm system for better fidelity and mounted six QSC AD-S52 in strategic locations on the truss that holds up the awning. Again, he installed two mic jacks that could be used in a few different ways. You can use a wired Sennheiser mic, or one of the wireless Sennheiser mics, or with a DI you can connect a mixer giving them many more inputs. By providing a robust enough installed system there is no need for renting or setting up speakers for large events. Also it keeps the room free of wires making it look more professional.

Nearby, a massive Atlas horn, existing from the previous sound system, sits atop the roof for the purpose of making announcements to the first few holes on the course. Tobler gave the front desk a push-to-talk mic that interrupts audio in all of the zones for the purpose of making general announcements. Well, not exactly: "Say you're sitting out on the terrace listening to some golf luminary sharing tricks and anecdotes that don't make it into the magazines. The last thing you want to hear is his mic cut out for an announcement. That would be very... unsmooth." Using the SymNet 8x8 DSP's logic, Tobler named some of the presets "events," the intuition being that"events" are not the sorts of things that should be interrupted for announcements. Thus, general announcements override program audio in all the zones, unless those zones are hosting an "event." Very smooth.

Heading inside, the Grill Room's walls are covered in historical memorabilia and trophies. Televisions dot the area, making it a more casual version of the East Room upstairs. Tobler used the existing speakers and added a microphone jack and a Sennheiser wireless system to allow for small-scale events. The adjacent Mixed Grill Room is on the same zone, but has a rheostat volume control so that events in the Grill Room can be turned down or muted, should it be so desired. The nearby, two-story locker room is on a separate zone and fed with muzak and the Caddy Master's announcements.

The last zone exists in a slightly different realm, that of the caddy master, the caddy area, and the pro shop. The caddy master wears a lavaliere microphone that he uses for two purposes. First, he calls caddies throughout the day, as groups require them. Second, in the morning as groups assemble to head out onto the course, he makes announcements through six QSC AD-S52s strategically hidden all around the outside of the pro shop. It's a vast improvement over the old system. "The caddy master used to have to make his announcements twice through a bullhorn, once in front of the pro shop and once behind, excluding all of the people still getting ready inside the adjacent locker room," explained Tobler. A bullhorn? Stone Age technology!

Easy-to-Use for Winged Foot, Easy-to-Use for Greg Tobler

Winged Foot's new audio system uses more than 85% of the impressive DSP power of the SymNet 8x8, employing subtle processing and extensive logic and routing. At the same time, Tobler presented all of that complexity to the end user through easy-to-understand presets accessible through the ARC-2 wall panels. Distilling something that is complex into something that appears simple is itself a complex task. Nevertheless, Tobler found the exercise straightforward.