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Kiosk display on the history of the guitar (click image for larger view).

The audio signal chain for the entire museum is based around a SeaChange RAID system that is capable of storing 50 hours of 24mbps MPEG files, or an ENCO Audio Server. The ENCO audio server is a hard disk-based multitrack record and playback device. From there, some signals go to a PESA Router before hopping onto a QSC Rave system, which is used to multiplex the audio channels through an Ethernet backbone. When the audio exits the Ethernet backbone, the signal hits a Harmon BSS DSP module where the stereo audio is mixed down to mono and fed to one port for the JBL Exhibit Audio speaker. In addition, the stereo feed is sent to the Sennheiser transmitters, which are then received by the Museum Exhibit Guide (MEG) and JBL speaker systems. Whew!

An aerial view of the Gehry-designed building
(click image for larger view).

EMP’s MEGs utilize the Microsoft Windows CE operating system with a handheld interface and a pair of headphones. A 6-gig hard drive—worn across the shoulder—is capable of storing 20 or more hours of CD-quality audio. This audio content enriches the EMP by giving visitors personalized access to audio information about a particular gallery, exhibit or artifact. Items of particular interest can be bookmarked for future reference in the Digital Lab or via www.emplive.com.

At various exhibits are large guitar picks with headphone icons, at which visitors can aim their handheld MEGs, press a button and download information onto a screen that can then be played back on the visitor’s headphones. This technology utilizes 128kbps MP3s. In the future, the MEG may also include images or short video displays. The icons on the display cases do not transmit the information, per se, but are merely replacements for menu-driven access to the database that is carried over the shoulder.

The Guitar Gallery includes Tampa Red’s National steel guitar (1928), a Gibson Flying V prototype (1957) and Roger McGuinn’s 12-string Rickenbacker (1964). (Click image for larger view.)

There are also video monitors sprinkled about the museum that broadcast video related to the accompanying displays. Sound for these displays comes from a mono speaker system that hangs directly above the video monitor and is enclosed in a column that serves to direct sound down to the viewer and provide isolation between this direct sound and the din of the surrounding museum and its occupants. This method is quite effective; however, EMP is currently working with Sennheiser to develop a method of transmitting the sound from the video displays to the handheld MEG system so that appropriate audio information at the different stations can be delivered via headphones and the sound tube, simultaneously.

After a quick lesson on how to use the handheld MEGs, visitors encounter a central area commanded by an untitled tree sculpture created by Trimpin. This piece is composed of 500 guitars, and the music made by the individual guitars is pumped into the surrounding area, The Crossroads. Standing two-stories tall, this sculpture dominates the center of the museum; the exhibit rooms branch off from this.

Reprinted with permission from

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