If it isn’t already, The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York
should be on the bucket list of everyone who is a child at heart. The Strong houses
the world’s largest and most complete collection of toys, both contemporary and
historical, and is home to the Centre for the History of Electronic Games, the World
Video Game Hall of Fame, the Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play, the
American Journal of Play, and, as of this year, the National Toy Hall of Fame. With
the addition of the National Toy Hall of Fame, The Strong undertook a major
renovation of its sound reinforcement and lighting systems. Where it was previously
piecemeal, The Strong’s sound system is now united and uses Ashly Audio
processing, amplification, and user control, including a hardwired fader bank and a
wireless Ashly Remote iPad app.

“Previously, The Strong used local sound generated by individual kiosks, and it had
no specific lighting for any of the live performance spaces,’ explained Jeff Stid, the
service & installations manager at Applied Audio & Theatre Supply. Applied Audio,
which is also in Rochester, designed and installed The Strong’s new audio and
lighting systems.

By using Ashly Audio’s flexible signal processing software and customizable preset
recalls, Stid and his team turned one of the project’s biggest challenges into one of
its greatest assets. Because the two stages are so close to each other and because
the main purpose of using a distributed system is to keep overall SPLs as low as
possible, multiple loudspeakers would have to serve multiple functions. For
example, one bank of loudspeakers serves as the delay for the bigger stage while
also being the stage-right mains for the smaller “scoop’ stage (so named because it
is scooped out around the stairs leading to the second floor).

In addition to the Ashly ne24.24M (the modular I/O count of which is configured for
twelve inputs and eight outputs), the system uses one Ashly KLR-3200 two-channel
800W 70V amp, one Ashly SRA-2150 two-channel 150W amp, and one TRA-4150
four-channel 150W selectable output amp, for a total of eight amplifier channels. A
Denon multimedia playback device pairs with four Shure wireless microphone
systems and a collection of hardwired jacks as inputs to the system, and a Denon
recorder joins the amps on the output side. The whole head end resides in a rack
built by The Strong’s in-house carpentry team. QSC Acoustic Design Series ceiling-
and wall-mount loudspeakers finish the sound reinforcement system and are joined
by new ETC Source Four LED lights, custom finished to white to match the venue.

The Strong already had a Nicolaudie STICK lighting control to use with the new
lighting system, but Applied Audio selected and customized the audio interfaces. An
Ashly FR-16 sixteen-channel network remote fader bank, located at the rack,
provides intuitive control over input and zone volumes and mutes. In addition,
Applied Audio customized the Ashly Remote iPad App so that staff can walk the
venue and make pre-set, volume, and source changes.