The following text appeared in a "News Extra" section of the Spencer (Ia.) Daily Reporter titled "Regional Events Center Grand Opening". The section was published on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2003.

Just as the Clay County Regional Events Center was designed and constructed to accommodate a wide variety of functions, diversity remained a critical element of the center's sound reinforcement system design.

With that in mind, event center consultants turned to the acoustical experts and system engineers at R & D Industries, Inc. for assistance. The resulting sound reinforcement system designed by the Milford company will combine cutting-edge technology with simplicity and diversity in its use.

"When contacted, we were given a fairly short time frame, so we had several people in our office contribute to our design," said senior systems engineer Mike Clark.
In all, three R & D Industries system engineers – Clark, David Campbell, and Todd Berger – as well as their in-house architect, Ron Ponec, assisted with the project.

The project's scope involved the design and implementation of sound reinforcement systems within the event center's six conference rooms, as well as an arena sound system in the "Great Hall" area.

According to Clark, a high-tech solution was required in order to maintain the desired functionality among the six conference rooms.

"The goal was to allow the partitioned conference rooms to use the system as one sound system, or a variety of difference combinations of systems, depending on the immediate need," Clark said.

The sound reinforcement design by R & D Industries system engineers accomplishes this goal.

"The entire system is controlled by a complete digital processor, including room combining, microphone mixing, equalization, and much more," added Clark. "It's a very high-end sophisticated audio platform that only select dealers are licensed to install worldwide."

Each of the six conference rooms – or any combination thereof – will be digitally managed through the simple use of control panels.

The sound system for the Clay County Regional Events Center's "Great Hall" required its own distinct approach. R & D Industries system engineers utilized acoustical modeling to assist in their design. They used an acoustical computer-aided design system called EASE (Electro-Acoustic Simulator for Engineers) to aid in this process.

"In EASE, we can try different speakers at different locations, see how loud each speaker will be in different areas to ensure even coverage, and evaluate intelligibility in different areas, among a variety of other analyses," Clark said.

The arena system's design was based on these analyses, and includes 10 EV loud speakers powered by 10 QSC power amplifiers.

Like the conference room sound systems, the arena system will also be processed digitally. These processors perform several crucial actions digitally such as crossovers, time alignment, compression limiting, and much more.

"The systems have several hundred patch points, allowing for very flexible wiring needs and a variety of wiring capabilities," Clark said. "The arena system includes a portable mixing system that can be used in the arena for optimal mixing, and can be used from a variety of locations."

Furthermore, both the conference room sound system and the arena sound system are tied together for use during facility-wide events.

With the details finalized and the funding approved in early November, 2003, the Clay County Regional Events Center's sound reinforcement system was substantially completed and operational by the start of 2004.

.Installation technicians from R & D Industries have already begun the system's installation process. The staff is coordinating with workers from Spencer Municipal Utilities in running the hundreds of feet of wiring required for the system.

"We're pleased to take part in such a project which maintains the goal of improving quality of life in Northwest Iowa," said Clark.