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

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.

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.”

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.

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.”