New Jersey High School Installs New Sound System With Ashly Audio Fixtures

New Jersey Hudson County Prep High School in Jersey City recently completed a facilities expansion, which included the installment of a Ashly digiMIX24 digital console for the new sound system in the school’s gymnasium.

Local A/V integration and manufacturers rep firm Volt Laboratories designed the sound reinforcement system.

“We’re a Technomad loudspeakers manufacturers rep, and they often throw the hard, technical jobs our way,” explained Vince Hartung, architect from Volt Laboratories, a sole source provider. “County Prep High School contacted them to request a demo of a DragonFly Weatherproof Portable PA System, and we stepped up to provide it. The school loved the sound quality. In fact, they loved it so much that they asked us to design an event system for the new gym they were building. We visited while it was still very much under construction, but already they had JBL speakers hanging from the ceiling. They expected that system to handle the day-to-day music playback, but they still wanted a dedicated event sound system.”

The school wanted a fully-featured console for the system, with a breakout box for the stage, inputs to four Audio-Technica wireless mic systems, Bluetooth and casting inputs for students and coaches.

“The Ashly digiMIX24 is a perfect fit for a situation like this,” said Hartung. “It’s a ‘studio-grade’ console, meaning it has all the functionality you would expect from a real studio console – parametric EQ, full dynamics control, sophisticated routing, and so on. On top of that, it comes with Ashly’s free iPad remote control app, which will allow novices to operate things for simple events or the school’s tech to run a more complicated mix from anywhere. Take all that functionality together with Ashly’s legendary reliability and an incredibly low price point… there’s nothing else that even comes close to it on the market.”

A pair of twigged Technomad Berlin loudspeakers powered by Volt Laboratories custom amps complete the system.

The JBL loudspeakers that were hanging but unconnected when Hartung first walked through the gymnasium were eventually connected to a QSC amplifier and a BSS DSP, but the school was dissatisfied with its lack of flexibility. In the near future, Volt Laboratories will remove the BSS and connect the JBL system with its paging feeds and a couple of Shure wireless mics to the Ashly digiMIX24 as well.

“They absolutely love the crystal clear audio and the ease with which their technicians can control the system,” Hartung said. “The Hudson County school district is building a new ‘High Tech High School’ in Secaucus, New Jersey, and they want it outfitted in exactly the same way. We may use the smaller Ashly digiMIX18 if it is available by that time.”