Versatile Yamaha Audio System For Saudi Arabian Polyclinic

FAZ Medical Center in the city of Abha, south-west Saudi Arabia, is the latest in a chain of Saudi Arabian polyclinics, equipped to treat a wide range of conditions. The new seven-storey facility is equipped with all the latest medical technology, complemented by a state-of-the-art Yamaha audio system.

Located between 2200 and 3000 meters above sea level, Abha is promoted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination, its semi-arid climate appealing to overseas visitors, as well as to Saudi citizens who live in the fiercer desert heat of the rest of the country.

Jeddah-based aDawliah Universal Electronics was asked to design and supply a system which would cover 16 areas of the building with high quality public address and paging audio, using both wireless and wired control for volume and independent routing of audio sources to different areas. The system also had to be easily expandable.

“Yamaha audio processors gave us many options, letting us create a system which met both the technical and financial brief from the customer,” says Mohannad Mahmoud, of the Projects department at aDawliah Universal Electronics.”

Mohannad designed a 16 zone system, based on a Yamaha MTX5-D matrix mixer. Its outputs were routed to 58 NS-IC400 ceiling speakers and two VS4 wall-mounted speakers, via a pair of XMV8140 power amplifiers. The inputs to the system comprised a micro-SD card in the MTX5-D for pre-recorded messages, a Yamaha CD-C600 CD player, paging microphones and a digital Azan prayer clock.

Flexible control was delivered by eight DCP1V4S surface panels, routed via a DCH8 digital controller hub, and a Windows PC, located at the reception desk. Running Yamaha ProVisionaire Kiosk software the system can also be controlled wirelessly from an iPad-based custom panel, programmed on Yamaha’s ProVisionaire Touch app.

“As well as allowing us to providing a system which is more flexible than other brands, Yamaha gave us the possibility of easily expanding it with more inputs, outputs and controls, if this is needed in the future. I believe Yamaha has the best audio solutions for any small and medium-sized project in the world,” says Mohannad.