LEA Amps Power Aquatic Leisure Centre: East Keilor

Phillip Gan and the Programmed team installed a set of seven Connect Series 704D amplifiers to power the entire facility, totaling 28 channels of audio. The team set up an intuitive set of audio zones for easy control, allowing the staff to adjust volumes and content and make announcements as needed.

“This is an expansive facility and all the systems here are as network-based as possible, and that includes the AV system,” said Gan. “We needed to design and install the sound system on a Dante audio network; LEA is known for its IoT technology and flexible connectivity, so the Dante Connect Series amps were perfect for this project.”

Using standard IT networking for audio provides a very efficient and creative connectivity model. Networked audio systems are always connected via a network of standard switches and cabling rather than a legacy point-to-point topology with many disparate analog cables to run, maintain, and manage. Software determines where data is sent and received, so any combination of signal routes can be directed quickly and easily without moving a cable.

“LEA’s built-in Dante technology made for easy connections between all the components, the control system, and for distributing audio and data across the network and throughout the leisure center,” said Gan. “Many of the facility’s spaces are very large with high ceilings — as with the big, indoor swimming pool areas — and it was challenging enough to run a single network cable across these spaces; multiple pairs of analog cables would have been very difficult and expensive.”