Osaka Ibaraki Campus Installs MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone For Sound Reinforcement In State-of-the-art Seminar Room

Customer Profile

Opened in 2015, the Osaka Ibaraki Campus (OIC) is the newest satellite of Ritsumeikan University, one of western Japan's four leading private universities. The campus is home to the College of Policy Science, College of Business Administration, College of Comprehensive Psychology, and four Graduate Schools. With “Gateway to Asia,” “Urban Co-creation,” and “Community and Regional Collaboration” as its academic concepts, the Campus facilitates collaboration with industry, government institutions and citizens, and is also publicly accessible to encourage interaction with local communities.

Client Needs

The Colloquium is a state-of-the art seminar and conference room at OIC and a pilot facility for implementation of latest audio visual solutions. Mr. Kengo Kurashina of the Office of Information Infrastructure, Information System Department at Ritsumeikan University describes it as “a classroom where we always try new things.”

“The Colloquium is not only used for our usual classroom sessions, but we sometimes rent it to people outside the university for events such as academic meetings and conferences. We have a wireless handheld microphone available, but operating the large touch panel display in the room is not easy when you have a microphone in your hand. We considered a lavalier microphone as alternative, but they sometimes pick up noise if they are not attached properly and they can easily cause feedback,” explains Mr. Kurashina. “Ever since I took charge of the system design for our classrooms, I have been interested in a hands-free sound reinforcement system that uses a ceiling microphone.”

Solution

Ritsumeikan University installed the ceiling-mounted MXA910 at the front of the room, just above a whiteboard and large touch panel display used by teachers and speakers. The microphone captures speakers’ voices by utilizing Shure’s proprietary Steerable Coverage™ technology which allows to aim 8 discreet lobes at the presenter area. The individual lobes are automatically activated as the presenter moves around, ensuring consistent sound quality. At the Colloquium, the MXA910 is mounted at 4 meters height and covers a distance of 9 meters between the whiteboard and student seats.

Results

Mr. Kurashina on the sound quality: “When a speaker turns his back to the microphone to write something on the whiteboard, the sound does change accordingly, but you are still able to hear the speaker. In the coverage area, spoken voices are amplified just as they are and sound very natural.”

As a result of Mr. Kurashina’s knowledge of facility acoustics, and increased clarity owing to Shure IntelliMix™ DSP Suite that reduces unwanted noise, the new audio setup gives the impression that words spoken in front of the whiteboard are louder, yet still clear and natural.

Mr. Kurashina is also highly satisfied with digital transmission via Dante network using Ethernet, and the ability to configure the microphone via PC. “It is good that its browser-based. Permanently installed software sometimes becomes less stable depending on the PC and the version. The browser-based system allows us to quickly switch devices if a problem occurs on a PC used for control. It is also really helpful and convenient that the microphone can be monitored from a remote site, a feature common to all Shure products. Moreover, the control software of the MXA910 is also intuitive and easy to use. Our facility AV systems are often operated by people who may be less familiar with acoustics, so this is a big advantage.”

Gear List

	Model Number	Quantity	Description
	MXA910		The new MXA910 with IntelliMix® represents the next evolution in the Microflex® Advance™ Ceiling Array Microphone platform.
	MXA310		Table array microphone utilizes Steerable Coverage technology to capture pristine audio around conferencing tables of various sizes and shapes.