Burbank, CA – Electrosonic has provided most of the video displays and audio systems in the public areas, exhibit galleries and theaters at the Newseum, which opens in Washington, D.C. this month. A seven-level, high-tech interactive museum, the Newseum traces the history of news reporting from the 16th century to the present. With AV systems installed by Electrosonic, the Newseum boasts 250,000 square feet of exhibit space and includes 14 major galleries and a 4D time-travel experience.
“The Newseum is a very sophisticated building with an open plan and enormously tall atrium, which meant there were many lighting and acoustical challenges to overcome,” notes Andrew Kidd, Electrosonic business development manager and technology consultant. “But our client, the Freedom Forum’s Jim Updike, and Bud O’Connor and his team are technologically extremely well qualified. Since they are all former broadcast engineers, the design and implementation was really a partnership between the two organizations. Starting with a very interactive design and development process, they absolutely understood what we were doing. They have been excellent to work with for a second time and that has made for a great experience all around.”
Electrosonic furnished almost 800 loudspeakers for the PA system throughout the Newseum. They comprise ceiling-mounted EAW CIS400 speakers, Community WET2W8 and Tannoy i8 speakers on the outdoor terrace, and custom Dakota line arrays and Bag End subwoofers in the lobby, also known as The New York Times-Ochs-Sulzberger Family Great Hall of News.
“The Newseum is divided into about 80 zones, and any zone can be addressed independently by the PA system,” Kidd explains. “The most basic use of the system is to announce events and closing time to visitors. But the system will also be used to deliver background music to private events held in the space and to enable different presentations to take place in the zones simultaneously.”
With most galleries wide open to the Great Hall of News “there were issues of containing sound within the individual zones and creating good sound quality in the lobby,” Kidd continues. “There are thousands and thousands of square feet of glass and concrete working against us and a few nice absorbent surfaces helping out.” Electrosonic worked closely with Acoustic Designer Steve Haas of SH Acoustics to select the speaker types that best fit his acoustic design of the Newseum. “His speaker choices and treatments in the lobby make for quite extraordinarily clear sound,” Kidd reports.
Media Matrix Nion digital sound processing was used throughout the Newseum along with a mixture of QSC and Crown amplifiers.
Dan Laspa served as Electrosonic’s project manager for the Newseum. Media for the galleries was created in-house at the Newseum with Paul Sparrow in charge of production. Chris Miceli at Ralph Appelbaum Associates headed the exhibit design team. Kubik was the exhibit fabricator.
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For more information, please visit www.electrosonic.com.
