How do you ensure everyone using an audio system – regardless of technological capability – receives the maximum benefit of amazing sound quality? For one of the largest conference centers in Wisconsin, the answer is to partner with Ashly Audio and capitalize on the company’s intuitive and powerful controls and user interfaces.
Green Lake Conference Center, named for its location on the shores of Green Lake in Wisconsin, boasts over 80,000 square feet of space for meetings of all size and type. The facility’s 38 different meeting rooms and large outdoor amphitheater annually host more than 400 groups conducting everything from worship services to mathematics conferences.
Because of the diverse use of the facility and the varying technical savvy of those renting the meeting spaces, Green Lake Conference Center requires professional audio solutions that are powerful enough for live performances but can also be used by anyone holding an event – regardless of their experience with a sound system.
Andrew Szlapka of Audio Contractors LLC, the Madison-based integrator that installed the system for Green Lake Conference Center, said the need to provide simple system control to a continuously different set of end users led him to Ashly Audio.
“It was the impressively simple interface and control Ashly provides in its solutions that definitely won us over,” Szlapka said. “Although ‘simple’ really may not be the right word to use because of how much you can do with the system. On our end we were able to use it to build out templates for rooms in the facility, which made our jobs easier. For the users of the system, things couldn’t be easier with how straightforward and direct we were able to design the system.”
Szlapka said the flexibility and intuitive controls of the Ashly Protea Digital Matrix Processor, model NE24.24 (20 in x 4 out), allow for a simple iPad setup using Ashly software.
“It really is as simple as selecting the microphone to be used, the space where they want to use it in, and then going to speak or perform,” Szlapka said. “The user is given a ton of functionality with very few button presses.”
In another area of the facility, an Ashly digiMIX18 digital mixing console is placed into EZ-Mode, allowing for further simplicity with the main mixer for the space.
In total, Audio Contractors LLC integrated Ashly products into three rooms with plans to expand throughout the facility. Products in the integration include the Ashly digiMIX18, two Ashly Protea NE24.24 digital matrix processors, an Ashly nXp1504 multi-mode 4-channel x 150W network amplifier with a built-in 4×4 Protea digital processor, as well as Danley speakers and subwoofers.
For the Green Lake Conference Center staff, the end result is a powerful yet straightforward system that improves the quality of sound for each of its customers who make use of the facility.
“We needed great sound on a restricted budget,” said Ben Mott, president and CEO of Green Lake Conference Center. “The Audio Contractors team met with us, listened to all of our customers’ needs, our architectural desires, and our budget and delivered a customized, well thought-out solution that is easy to use and delights our customers and staff.”
Szlapka said that feedback is an indication the Ashly system can bring new business opportunities to his company going forward.
“The reality is that Ashly is offering a very stable platform,” Szlapka said. “It’s one we will use across the other rooms as they further expand their audio offerings. It’s also a platform we will use in future integrations because of how well this worked. I see this going in to a number of new business opportunities for us. That’s a huge win.”
