Mineola Middle School Auditorium Shines Bright Again!

WiredUP recently conducted a complete overhaul of the House Lighting system and Audio System in the Mineola Middle School Auditorium. During the preliminary planning phases of the project, the facilities staff noted that they did not want to have to continue replacing bulbs, since a scaffold was required to do so. They also mentioned that the existing PA system just wasn’t yeiling the results they wanted.

We went to work designing a solution that would be cost friendly and get the job done the right way. Ultimately, we landed on upgrading the existing sound system, increasing the JBL VRX928LA array size from 4 to 5, and adding a single VRX915-S subwoofer per side in a mixed array. Existing amplification, processing, consoles and microphones were left untouched, with the exception of adding an amplifier for the added speakers.

The revised PA system now covers every seat in the house, including a surprising amount of coverage under the balcony, nearly mitigating the need for under balcony fills — though the existing JBL Control 25’s were left for exactly that purpose. The low end response is clean and powerful without being overwhelming.

View from Balcony - new lighting installed

Before renovations

School administration wanted to keep the existing chandeliers in tact - so WiredUP simply replaced the existing mix between cheap LED bulbs and incandescent bulbs with uniform, color temperature adjustable long-life LED bulbs with a high lumen count. The secondary issue was the dimming - traditional incandescent bulbs dim via voltage, whereas LED does not. Since the school had a preexisting ETC Sensor Unison Dimmer Rack, the best match for an architectural LED conversion was the PhaseAdept LED10 dimmer pack, which dims via reverse-phase (trailing-edge) dimming, which also manages the inrush current for the LED drivers. PhaseAdept dimmers also automatically recognize faults and can adjust accordingly.

ETC’s PhaseAdept series of dimmers can also take advantage of existing infrastructure, so there is no need for the cumbersome re-running of electrical lines or electrical inspections. The packs are plug-and-play within the Sensor ecosystem, and require no programming for newer Sensor racks.

Completed Space with all new lights on and PA system hung

For more information, check out our portfolio publication about this project.