Rave reviews for the AV & Acoustical Design of the Las Vegas Smith Center

The Las Vegas community gives a standing ovation for the construction of a new performing arts center and live venue complex designed to bring an arts & cultural complex to Southern Nevada residents

THE PROJECT

The Las Vegas Smith Center is built on a 5-acre former Brownfield. It cost $470 million to build, took 33 months to complete & incorporates inspiration from famous concert halls around the world. The 5-tier main hall boasts over 2,000 seats.

THE CHALLENGE

The center long under consideration and pre-development was an exciting project and focused on the local community rather than “the strip.” It introduces to Las Vegas, a new, world class Performing Arts venue that focuses on providing local residents an international stage that celebrates artistic excellence, education and music from around the world. The project was championed by local community leaders and targeted to bring a cultural complex that would serve Las Vegas and southern Nevada residents.

In keeping with the extravagant spirit of Las Vegas, the center is dazzling from an architectural standpoint, but equally impressive is the work of the acoustical engineering firm, Akustiks, for their attention to the acoustic and audio details for the project. Their work for this project included an acoustically tuned stage designed for orchestras and Broadway shows and an impressive array of audio and video equipment to ensure attendees a phenomenal experience.

THE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

The AV systems for the project included self powered speakers, power amplifiers, mixing boards/consoles, signal processors, back stage audio and video monitors, displays, flat panels, video projectors, video recorders, video routers, matrix switcher, cameras, and stage outlets.

All of the equipment runs back to two LynTec RPC panel boards that are located in an electrical room and a control room. Everything on the project was networked for ease of accessibility and use.

Senior Design Consultant, Sam Brandt is pleased with the intuitive interface for the LynTec system, he says, “Because of the technical nature of AV equipment, most large PACs have highly skilled operators that work with the equipment once the project has been installed and commissioned. Being able to provide them with a friendly user interface is always a bonus for clients.” Because the LynTec software allows you to pull up a web page for the RPC panel and build in sequences, Akustiks doesn’t typically need other control platforms.

When asked about control systems in general, Brandt says he likes to rely upon the native control system because he finds it easier to work with the equipment manufacturer directly when making changes or identifying upgrades for the system.

He comments, “Our clients want to shut things off at the breaker level and as the facility changes and grows over time they may need to install or uninstall equipment. This is a lot easier for operators of the system when they can go in with the manufacturers own control software and change it. When we are tasked with knowing what is going on in every corner of the AV systems we design and build, having part of those systems hidden behind other control systems isn’t as transparent. The native interface is very useful and very, very flexible. We like the ability to monitor the state of every breaker as well as the load on every breaker. ”

ON WORKING WITH LYNTEC

Brandt states, “Our team members spend a lot of time with electrical engineers to design technical power systems with dedicated transformers that feed our client’s AV systems and provide a dedicated isolated ground. As part of our designs, we include several devices – with a number of receptacles and these receptacles are all fed from LynTec panels which allow them to turn on and off systems in the proper order.”

Indeed, the panels allow clients to turn off circuits at the end of the day and even general purpose outlets can be turned off in addition to dedicated outlets. This allows Akustiks to provide a way to shed the power for a whole system.

But the accessibility and control features of the LynTec panels & monitoring software go far beyond power control. From a compliance standpoint and in response to local officials, LynTec can take a contact, shed power and turn off sound systems to better facilitate the communication of life safety messaging. For example, if a client gets a trigger from a fire alarm, this can be set as a relay and immediately turn off all branch circuits in the LynTec panel. This zip off function goes a long way in providing additional assurances for life safety.

Brandt comments, “We’ve been specifying LynTec products for a number of years and we are very happy to see the products evolve into the Remote Power Control (RPC). This has allowed us to group circuits together and control them independently. Previously it was more difficult to turn on the equipment in the control room and keep the speakers and the amplifiers turned off. It took a lot more work to group the equipment – LynTec has truly improved and simplified this process."

THE FINAL WORD

Brandt adds, “In many ways, LynTec is a standard for us – it is just considered a part of the way we approach our work. LynTec’s RPC panel boards even allows for remote control over outlets and offers current monitoring, so that at any given time, our team knows exactly what is going on with a particular circuit. The network operability allows you to start networking and sequencing. This enables you to see what is happening at a central location, and this makes it quite convenient to be able to supervise these things from one location.”

Brandt encourages electrical engineers that are interested in identifying energy efficiencies to better understand LynTec’s product capabilities. “I’ve worked with LynTec for over 15 years. Their products and support are key to the work that we do and their software and hardware developers are often able to customize the products and features we need to meet unique challenges and needs.”

YOU GET WHAT YOU SPEC

As for their role in the specification process, Akustiks actually specifies the panel board explicitly. This is important because unlike other high voltage system devices where they give guidelines, when it comes to LynTec they actually specify the panels by part number and note the LynTec panel board as a specialty assembly. This ensures that they get what they want and what the client needs locked-in on the electrical drawings.

In Brandt’s mind there can be absolutely no value engineering when it comes to your panels as it is something that simply cannot be compromised.

The process he shares is simple. Once the specification is made and the panels are included on the electrical drawings, the audio contractor then purchases the panel board and turns it over to the electrical contractor to install.

Brandt rarely sees any push back from engineers when they are using LynTec. Even in the case where a federal or state job requires multiple product submissions, the argument can be made that there really isn’t a true equal to LynTec. In these cases, the firm goes the extra mile and gets a waiver to show that the LynTec product is unique and adds value that cannot be easily matched.