The Williston Harbour Landing is a new and unique senior community located in Regina, Saskatchewan. Its amenities-rich design affords its residents, all aged 55 and up, with resort-style retirement living, rich in options and amenities. The overall IT and audio-visual infrastructure for The Williston was designed and installed by Hillman AV, a full-service audio-visual design and installation firm.
The project required significant resources to accomplish specific goals, including the facility’s IT network, AV systems, surveillance system, and access system. The audio system required a high degree of flexibility, as the specific requirements for each of the various areas was not yet finalized at the time of the design. For this reason, President Jarrod Hillman and his team elected to use the Q-SYS ecosystem, with QSC loudspeakers and amps, and Attero Tech networked wall plates to ensure that each area would house sound systems appropriate to their needs.
“One big reason we liked QSC for this job is the variety of speaker styles that they offer,” explains Hillman. “They have surface mount, ceiling, and pendant speakers, the amplifiers are rock solid, and their signal processor, the CORE110F, can interface easily with many network systems. We knew QSC would give us the flexibility to adjust to anything they decided in how they wanted their sound distributed.”
Hillman designed a 12-zone audio system for The Williston, with independently controllable sound for each amenity area. Zones include the main Community Lounge, including the reception and lobby area; the multi-purpose Prairie Events Centre; plus a sports pub, café, two separate dining rooms, beauty salon, fitness center, and a beer-brewing and winemaking cellar. There’s also a zone for the rooftop patio on the third floor.
“One of the big challenges we had was not knowing what inputs and outputs would be needed in certain rooms. That’s why the Attero Tech wall plates were such a key element,” says Hillman. “That one wall plate, the UNA6I0, run over a network cable to the CORE110F via a network switch, gave us the flexibility to accommodate anything they needed, and to adjust with how they wanted their sound distributed in those spaces.”
A total of five Attero Tech UNA6IO wall plates are installed, including two in the multipurpose room, with single units located in the hair salon, private dining room, and the 3rd-floor patio. Each offers connectivity for RCA, 3.5mm, and mic/line XLR inputs to its room’s QSC loudspeakers, along with a 3.5 mm stereo output.
“That Attero Tech wall plate means running a lot less cable, plus it’s auto-sensing,” he explains. “Just plug in a new source and it works, whether it’s a smart phone or a microphone. Basically, they simplified everything, both for us and The Williston.”
Loudspeaker selection was a simple matter of selecting the appropriate QSC models from the AcousticDesign and AcousticCoverage Series. Most areas are served by AC-C4T ceiling loudspeakers, with a total of 38 spread discretely throughout the facility, including the elevator lobbies. Both the lobby area and the Prairie Events Center use the dramatic AD-P6T pendant-style loudspeakers, while other zones like the sports bar and patio are served by the AC-S6TW and AD-S6TW surface-mount models, which boast superb clarity and fidelity. All the loudspeaker lines run back to a central equipment room, where they connect to their associated QSC amplifiers and CORE110F processor. The result is a system that is easy to use, offers outstanding clarity, and has the flexibility to meet evolving needs.
Debbie Brown, Executive Director of The Williston, feels the audio system design is a perfect fit for the facility. “In a senior community, a lot of people have hearing issues, so you need the sound to be clear and concise, with the ability to adjust the volume from room to room,” she notes. “Hillman AV did a great job of doing that with great technology that was still within our budget. This made things efficient and easy to use, and I haven’t had one resident complain about sound, which is the biggest compliment I could give.”
For Hillman AV, selecting QSC and Attero Tech products proved to be an outstanding choice for The Williston. The AES67 network compatibility plays nicely with the other aspects of the facility’s AV systems, and offers sophisticated routing and signal processing along with the ability to service the system remotely as well.
“This was an interesting project,” says Jarrod Hillman. “The client wanted a vibrant, energetic space using the latest technology, but with an ease of use appropriate to a senior community. Our slogan at Hillman AV is ’audio visual made easy,’ and I think The Williston is a great example of how we use QSC and Attero Tech systems to do just that for our clients.”
