Prestigious Private School Turns to Key Digital

Compass Control Pro delivers user-friendly upgrade appreciated by entire faculty   

Harpeth Hall in Nashville Tennessee is an independent college preparatory school for young women in grades 5-12. Families choose Harpeth Hall because of their reputation as a leader in girls' education. With a tradition of excellence to uphold, the institution needed a solution to their AV struggles they’ve encountered in the school’s Richards Room Lecture Hall.

With roughly 700 students and 150 school faculty, the school wanted a control system easy enough for each staff member to use without requiring technical support. The former system for the lecture hall was not user-friendly and contained various knobs and controls that the faculty was not able to use. The teachers did not know how to turn their devices on and off, and additionally they were unable to use the system for their presentations when necessary. Instead of helping the school, the previous systems wasted both the students’ and teachers’ time because they needed a tech person to come in and get them going. They were looking for something user-friendly and high quality, and that’s why Dewayne Rains of Audio Electronics turned to Key Digital’s Compass Control Pro.

The task of controlling the AV system and utilizing the existing projector, motorized screen, lighting, and electric shades was a cinch for Key Digital’s control system. With the implementation of Compass Control Pro the school staff are now able to control the entire room within one or two button presses. Instead of wasting 10 minutes trying to figure out how to turn on and off the video, now the teachers use the first 30 seconds of class setting up their room which increases efficiency allowing them to focus their valuable time on teaching, and it would not have been possible without the Compass Control Pro solution.

The replacement of antiquated and inefficient technology proved to be most notable with regard to the obstacles faced by the integrator. The previously installed overly-cluttered and complex controls acted as barriers to access as opposed to the facilitators they were intended to be. However, with the deployment of Key Digital’s Compass Control Pro system, not only was the user interface modernized, but streamlined as well, so as to allow more fluid usage, even by those without a technical background.

“With AEI’s help and the Compass Control Pro solution the school loves their new technology. Using iPad minis for the Compass Control Pro interface was a great success because they look good and are very easy to use with their simplistic user-interface and prevalence. The volume was self-set so the teachers no longer had to grapple with challenging audio dilemmas. The most important impact it had on the school was that it made the school more efficient, and as a result, less time is wasted trying to figure out the technology needed to teach the students,” said Dewayne Rains of AEI.

“As a tech department it's great for us to have something where we don't have to babysit and we don't have to watch every time someone wants to have a meeting in a conference room. We wanted  something that was a button or two away  from a teacher projecting her laptop, but something that was also high quality, that worked  every time, that looks good, and is just a solid product and so we worked with Compass Control Pro and created an iPad interface,” said Justin Dover, Technology Director at Harpeth Hall.

About Key Digital®

Led by the “Father of DVD”, Mike Tsinberg, Key Digital® is an InfoComm, CEDIA, CES, and NAHB award winning manufacturer of professional distributed video and control system equipment.   

Since 1999, Key Digital has lead the constantly evolving  A/V industry by designing products that deliver industry leading quality, performance, and reliability to corporate, bar & restaurant, digital signage, education, government, and house of worship applications.  

Key Digital products are designed and engineered in-house in Mount Vernon, NY.  Superior quality, ease-of-installation, and versatility are the result of strenuous research, development, and testing.  Expertise and unparalleled knowledge have created a unique hardware-software suite solution ideal for the consultants, designers, and installation firms of the A/V industry. Key Digital® is known to deliver best-in-class products based on quality, performance, and reliability.