Shure DDS 5900 Digital Discussion System Provides Sound Solution for Regina City Council

Shure DDS 5900 Digital Discussion System Provides Sound Solution for Regina City Council

Customer Profile

The Regina City Council provides local government to the citizens of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Throughout the year, the Council holds public meetings where advisory committees receive input and advice from citizens on matters that include community and protective services, emergency measures, public works and more.

Challenge

For years, the Regina City Council struggled with unreliable audio at meetings despite having a wireless system in place.

Solution

Professional Audio-Visual Ltd. installed a dedicated digital discussion system, the Shure DDS5900.

Advantages

A hardwired system, the DDS 5900 has proven to be a farbetter option than the Council’solder wireless setup. With the DDS 5900, everyone can hear clearly with no feedback. The Regina City Council can also expand its use of the Shure system as time goes on.

For years, the Regina City Council struggled with unreliable audio at public meetings, despite having a high-tech wireless system in place. Regional installation and rental experts Professional Audio-Visual Ltd.—better known as Pro AV—were called in to rectify the problem. After assessing the existing system and the council’s need forreliability, intelligibility, and ease of use, Pro AV Director of Sales and Service Derek Yan recommended a dedicated digital discussion system, the Shure DDS 5900.

The DDS 5900 Digital Discussion System uses integrated desktop microphones and speakers to enable up to 250 meeting participants to hear and be heard clearly. For the Regina City Council, 28 discussion units were required to serve the mayor, the council, and administrative officers. All stations are connected to a single centralcontrol unit, the CU 5905, which acts as the “brains” of the system, providing power and automated audio control. Each discussion station combines a personal speaker with a low-profile gooseneck microphone and can be set in four different operation modes.

Yan was impressed with the ease of installation and use of the DDS 5900. His team simply plugged in a Cat5e cable underneath, going from station to station in a daisy chain leading back to the central unit, which is hidden away. Adding more stations is just as simple, which accommodates future expansion. Ease of operation was another important factor, and one at which the Shure DDS 5900 excels.

After the system was in place, the council was immediately impressed with the improved sound quality. With individual speakers for each participant, everyone canhear clearly, with no feedback. The system’s audio output is also ported to a pressbridge and to a separate house sound system for the gallery. Audience participation is enabled through a dedicated delegate discussion station.

The council has set up the microphones in Push-to-Talk mode, so anyone wishing to speak simply touches the discussion unit to activate or mute their mic. With the Auto Off feature, available in all modes except VOX mode, the DDS 5900 turns the microphone off after a duration of no sound, which is adjustable from 5 - 60 seconds. Another attractive feature is that each microphone has a light ring around its element. The ring lights up when the mic is active, making it easy for everyone to see who is talking.

In terms of installation, operation, and overall sound quality, everyone involved has been extremely happy.