SSE Sales completes Sheffield University refit

Following the launch of its new sales department earlier in the year, Birmingham's SSE Hire has recently completed a major overhaul of the audio system at Sheffield University. The brief given by the University's technical manager Pete Brenchley was to provide separate systems for the three venues at the University. The Octagon, the largest of the three venues, was to have a new main PA system capable of handling touring acts. The Foundry, which runs seven nights a week with a variety of events and music styles needed new main PA, foldback and control equipment and Fusion, the Union bar, was to benefit from an installation capable of running in the background all day and coming forward to power the DJs at night. On top of this, the systems needed to be completely compatible with each other so that gear could be moved from venue to venue depending on the show to be supplied.

SSE designed and supplied a complete touring specification system for both the Octagon and Foundry with a Nexo Alpha speaker system powered by Crown Macro-Tech amplifiers for both venues. SSE's control specification for the Foundry included an Allen & Heath ML4000 and a variety of processing, including Klark Teknik EQ and Yamaha effects. Stage monitoring duties are handled by SSE Betamax wedges, powered by Crown MA2400 amplifiers with a Soundcraft SM12, Klark Teknik DN360 EQs and XTA DP200s controlling everything. SSE also supplied a full touring specification Pyle line system for both venues and its standardized patch system in all racks, allowing complete compatibility - not only within the University, but also with a number of major hire companies.

With training of the Union’s technical staff included in the package, the recent upgrade leaves Sheffield University with highly flexible, quality audio system. With the Octagon and Foundry equipped with touring quality systems, all that was left was the Fusion bar. Eight Electrovoice Deltamax 1152 cabinets and four Deltamax 2181 subs, originally supplied by SSE in the 1980s, were fully refurbished and re-installed in a new configuration. The system is powered by a mixture of Crown and C Audio amplifiers and with system control handled by an Allen & Heath GR05 zone mixer and a BSS Omnidrive.

(Ruth Rossington)

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