This may just look like a bunch of boxes but they have everyone at the Melbourne Planetarium quite excited. These seven pallets contain all of the computers, projectors, speakers and cabling for our forthcoming upgrade. The installation is only seven days away, and the planetarium will be closed from 4pm on the 24th of May and re-opening on the 3rd of June.

Last week the Museum finally signed off on the audio system which will be upgraded to a 7.1 surround system. This is a new system that uses directional line array element speakers with integrated amplification. The performance and installation of this audio system is very different to our current system, which is now 14 years old. It is a new approach developed by Skyskan which is currently installed in only two other planetariums – The Vanderbilt Planetarium (New York State USA) and the Davis Planetarium (Maryland USA). It is exciting for the Planetarium to be moving to new audio technology and has the added benefits that with the speakers mounted on the spring line, it physically improves the installation process, allows for future maintenance of the equipment and also reduces the equipment located in the computer rooms.