Manukau Event Centre: audio, video and intelligent lighting for a multipurpose venue

Project snapshot

• Venue: Manukau Event Centre
• Location: Manukau, South Auckland
• Sector: Multipurpose events venue
• Scope: Design and installation of the audio, visual and lighting system

The venue

Manukau Event Centre is a multipurpose venue that hosts corporate events, weddings, school balls and everything in between. That variety is the challenge: on a Tuesday the room needs crisp speech for a conference, on Friday it needs a band, and on Saturday a DJ and a dance floor.

The brief

Install an audio, visual and lighting system that looked professional, produced high-quality sound and included intelligent lighting. The sound system had to cater for speech, live bands and DJs without compromising any of them.

What we installed

• Eighteen ceiling speakers distributed across the room for even, low-level coverage. This is the layer that makes speeches and background music sound the same at every table.
• A front-of-house system of four single 12-inch JBL loudspeakers with two single 18-inch subwoofers, for bands, DJs and anything that needs real level and low end.
• Independent control of the ceiling speakers and the front-of-house system, so the venue can run one, the other or both.
• An Epson projector for presentations and event content.
• Intelligent lighting to turn the room from conference to function with a scene change rather than a rewire.

Why two audio layers

A single big PA is wrong for speech in a wide room: people near the speakers are blasted and people at the back strain to hear. A ceiling system on its own is wrong for a band. Putting both in, with independent control, means the venue chooses the right tool for each event. Speeches and dinner music run through the ceiling layer at a comfortable level; when the band starts or the DJ takes over, the front-of-house system carries the show while the ceiling layer fills in the corners.

Our role

Design and installation of the audio visual and lighting system.

Running a venue?

If your space has to handle speech one night and a DJ the next, a two-layer design like this pays for itself in fewer complaints and easier events. See our AV installation service, or book a site survey. We also supply event production and AV hire if you need extra capacity for a big night.