Reprinted from Lighting & Sound America Online – March 2005

Electrosonic Handles AV Systems Integration
at Museum of American Indian

View of the full-size Bombadier or ice-fishing
vehicle used by the Saint-Laurent Metis in Manitoba,
part of the "Our Lives: Contemporary Life
and Identities" exhibit. Photo: Walter Larrimore, NMAI

Electrosonic Systems Inc. (Electrosonic) was AV systems
integrator for the exhibition areas in the new National
Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) on the Mall in
Washington, D.C. The 16th museum of the Smithsonian
Institution, NMAI opened last fall. Electrosonic worked
under a direct contract with the Smithsonian to specifications prepared by PPI Consulting.

The three distinct permanent exhibition areas at NMAI are "Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World," "Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories," and "Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities." All make extensive use of AV and computer-interactive support. Source equipment is sited in a central control room with distribution by CAT-5 cabling for RGB sources
and by a combination of optical fiber and conventional cabling for video sources.

The great majority of images are presented on flat-panel displays fully integrated into the exhibits. These include 15 3M Microtouch touchscreen LCD displays and 60 LCD displays, mainly from Marshall, in the 8-20" range and 12 plasma displays, primarily from Panasonic, in the 37-60" range.

Bag End Loudspeakers, USA
847 382 4550     www.bagend.com
The "Our Lives" exhibition includes two videowalls in exhibits devoted to social and celebration activities where Clarity 50" and Wildcat 40" rear-projection "cubes" are used in 3x3 and 3x4 arrays.

Panasonic PT-D-7500 DLP projectors are employed for large projected images, most notably at the entrance to "Our Lives" where back projection and semi-transparent mirrors make visitors seem to be "in the picture."

Program sources are standard Dell Optiplex computers for the computer-interactive displays, video players with removable hard disc drives for the video, and solid-state audio players for audio-only exhibits. Overall system control is based on AMX equipment.

Audio equipment includes Mackie DX810 mixer/processors for audio-signal processing, QSC CX-168 multi-channel amplifiers and great variety of loudspeakers from vendors such as Tannoy, EAW and Bag End.

Because of the proximity of the exhibits, possible overlap of sound between exhibits is solved by the use of 35 custom-made Dakota Focused Array loudspeakers placed out of sight above the visitors.

In addition to the three main exhibition areas, numerous displays showcase selections from the hundreds of thousands of objects in the NMAI collections. Called "Windows on Collections: Many Hands, Many Voices," these displays are interpreted by an innovative interactive touchscreen system also installed by Electrosonic. It features software by Magian Design Studio based on Richardson 19" NEC touchscreen displays.

Interactive, audio and video software for the exhibits was produced by a team including Cortina Productions, Interface Media Group, Magian Design Studio and Pyramid Studios.

Exhibit design for "Our Universes" was by Design & Production, for "Our People" by ExPlus and for "Our Lives" by Hadley Exhibits. www.electrosonic.com/home.htm