MMZ DESIGN COMBINES COVERAGE AND CULTURE WITH JBL PROFESSIONAL PD SERIES LOUDSPEAKERS AT HISTORIC VENUE

NORTHRIDGE, CALIFORNIA, May 17, 2007 — Taking advantage of JBL Professional’s highly directional PD5000 Series speakers, The Plough and The Stars in historic Old City Philadelphia, PA, recently underwent a new systems installation and is now well-suited for its pivotal role as restaurant, pub, music venue, and meeting place two blocks from Independence Hall and The Liberty Bell.

Holding ground in the restored, historically preserved Corn Exchange Building dating back to 1902, the Plough and The Stars had a number of aesthetic and logistical requirements for the installation. MMZ Design’s senior consultant, Mike Zyla guaranteed the quality of the JBL PD5000 Series he specified by providing Jerome Donovan, owner of the venue for the past 12 years, with full EASE simulations prior to his making the investment. JBL readily supplies EASE files for all of its loudspeakers.

“Ahead of purchase, the JBL PD5000 Series speakers were proven to have outstanding directional characteristics that met the owner's demand for uniform sound coverage, high musical and vocal intelligibility, and minimum adverse effects from room reverberation and loudspeaker overlap. It allowed us to clinch the sale,” said Zyla. “The system performed well beyond even the owner's expectations.”

Based on a blueprint of table placement, five PD5000 Series speakers were installed in the ceiling. Two PD5322/43 speakers which each cast a 30- by 40-degree spot—the “cone of sound”—cover the main floor. There are also three PD5322/64 speakers installed in the balcony. There are four JBL AM6215/64 Application Engineered speakers from the JBL AE Series also installed and six Control 29AV loudspeakers speakers used as fills.
Since the budget only allowed for minimal acoustical treatment for the club’s ceiling, Zyla put JBL’s cones of sound to task in order to compensate for a very reverberant space complete with a marble floor, plaster walls, and a marble fireplace. “We needed speakers that would concentrate the sound on the patronage and not on the walls and ceilings,” said Zyla. “In our opinion the only speaker that could perform that well was the JBL PD5322/43 Series. They are like a spotlight rather than a floodlight. That’s how I explained it to the owner.”

Due to the historic nature of the venue, none of the building’s architecture or aesthetic could be destroyed or colored in any way. “It’s an extremely ornate ceiling with lots of plaster work. The windows are very ornate and tall, and the owner wanted to be able to stand anywhere on the balcony and see the tallest part of the window down to the bottom,” said Zyla.

Once installation started, MMZ realized there was a plaster false ceiling suspended from a poured concrete structure. It was not able to support the weight of the speakers. Nester Construction was hired to drill through the false ceiling and up into the concrete. “It’s an old place. We estimated a week and it ended up taking an extra week working between the hours of two in the morning until six in the morning,” said Zyla. “The nice thing about the JBL PD5000 speakers is that they have rigging attachment points. Nester Construction was able to pull the speaker almost flush with the ceiling. That was a great thing.”

The venue’s new sound system also features 11 Crown XTi Series amplifiers, AKG WMS 4000 wireless microphones, the BSS Soundweb London BLU-80 digital processor and the BLU-32 input/output expander. The organization of the system is 16 inputs and 16 outputs. Eight of the 16 inputs are channels of wireless microphones and the other eight inputs are his various programmed music feeds.

This club has live entertainment four out of seven days of the week. “It becomes a pretty rocking nightclub atmosphere Friday and Saturday nights,” said Zyla. “They sometimes have a DJ and other times live bands perform.” The venue needed a superior wireless microphone system to allow the Irish minstrels to stroll about the balcony and main floor. “The AKG WMS4000 Series wireless microphone performed extremely well.” The wireless mics also come in handy for community meetings held in the balcony. “Because the JBL PD5000s are so directional, lawyers or congressmen can conduct a mic’d meeting and the people downstairs can hardly hear it,” said Zyla.

About JBL Professional:
Headquartered in Northridge, California, JBL Professional is the world’s leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of professional loudspeakers for recording and broadcast, musician, cinema, touring sound, commercial sound and contracting applications. Celebrating its 60th Anniversary in 2006, JBL Professional is the proud recipient of the 2005 Technical GRAMMY® award. JBL Professional is part of the Harman International network of professional and consumer audio companies. For complete product and company information, go to the JBL Professional website at www.jblpro.com.

About the Harman Pro Group:
The Harman Pro Group (www.harmanpro.com) is the world’s largest provider of professional audio products and system solutions for commercial sound, contracting, tour sound, recording and broadcast, musician, portable PA and cinema applications. The Group is headquartered in Northridge, California and includes industry leaders AKG Acoustics, BSS Audio, Crown International, dbx, DigiTech, JBL Professional, Lexicon, Soundcraft, and Studer. The Group is part of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (NYSE: HAR), a leading supplier of high-quality, high fidelity audio products and infotainment systems for the automotive, home and professional markets.