Yamaha Equips Flexible Swiss Training Facility

In January 2021, a new training and conference facility for Mercury Training Group SA opened in Mendrisio, Switzerland. The versatile space is designed to be used as one large room or divided into two or three smaller ones, so a flexible and reliable audio system was needed. Yamaha provided the chosen solution.

Led by Frank Merenda, founder of Metodo Merenda (the Merenda Method), Mercury Training Group hosts ‘American style’ training conventions where marketing meets showbusiness. Along with live speech from presenters, video and audio playback are integral parts of the show. Michele and Riccardo De Simone of Sperlonga-based Remix Multimedia SRL were asked by Tiziano Stampete, the head of Mercury’s technical staff, to design an audio system which would maximise the use of the space.

“Reliability, safety and quality were the key words for this installation,” says Michele. “For us one of the key advantages of a Yamaha system was that it allowed full redundancy by installing both Dante and analogue networks, guaranteeing reliability. The customer wanted to be certain that, if there was any problem with one, the other would seamlessly take over, making sure there would be no interruption to their presentations.”

The system installed by Remix Multimedia comprises eight truss-mounted DZR10-D powered loudspeakers and a QL1 digital mixing console with MY4-DA expansion card in the main room. A DCP4V4S digital control panel provides straightforward control of the different main room configurations. An adjacent breakout room features five VXS5 surface mount speakers, powered by MA2120 and PA2120 power amplifiers.

The system is controlled by an MRX7-D matrix processor, with an SWP1-16MMF L2 switch for Dante routing. Eight wireless microphones are provided for convention speakers, while a MusicCast WXC-50 wireless streaming amplifier delivers versatile background music and playback options.

“Another vital part of the Yamaha system is the Dan Dugan auto mixing plug in. It makes it possible to easily manage the presence of several people on stage, an essential element for the presentations,” adds Michele.

While the DCP4V4S provides the control needed by the customer, the Remix Sound team found Yamaha’s ProVisionaire Touch iPad control was a very useful tool for commissioning the system. “We created a basic GUI in ProVisionaire Touch to easily set up the audio parameters during installation,” says Michele. “Being able to programme the system for a flexible space wirelessly was a real advantage.”