Anatomy of the World’s First L-Acoustics K2 Install
History doesn’t always happen exactly where you’d expect it, which can be both exciting and unpredictable. So when L-Acoustics’ next-generation large K2 line array — which replaces its landmark V-DOSC with a smaller, lighter, more efficient design — made its world debut in a permanent installation application, probably no one guessed it would be in the small town of Valley Center, Calif.
Located in northeast San Diego County, about halfway between the cities of Anaheim and San Diego, Valley Center is home to Harrah’s Resort Southern California. Formerly known as Harrah’s Rincon, the re-christened Harrah’s Resort is part of Caesars Entertainment Corporation and is a hotel/entertainment/dining/spa/conference complex, with a full-service casino thrown in for good measure.
Off to a Good Start
Several years ago, Harrah’s Resort decided to upgrade its offerings with a new state of the art Events Center, a multipurpose ballroom/banquet venue that — in addition to providing 23,000 square feet of meeting space — would also serve as a 2,200-seat concert venue, which is where the new L-Acoustics system now resides.
Handling the install is Sound Image of Escondido, CA. “We’ve been their AV provider for almost 15 years, so they turned to us when they decided to build this new concert venue/banquet hall,” says Brandon Rinas of Sound Image’s California contracting division. “Caesars has a sort of ‘cookie cutter’ design they use for such rooms; they forwarded it to Harrah’s, who forwarded it to us and asked us to make it work for what they do. We spent the next couple months morphing this standardized design into a custom-built facility for Harrah’s.”
The original design had large, low-hanging chandeliers and an older (non-L-Acoustics) P.A. — but did feature nine projection screens. “We pulled seven of these out and replaced the remaining two with LED panels that don’t need projectors. We can get almost anything we need out of mobile 90-inch screens without having projectors drop down and now they can easily set the room up any way they want,” Rinas explains.
Enter the K2
As it turns out, the Event Center at Harrah’s Resort Southern California is the first L-Acoustics K2 installation in the world. The complex had a good history with L-Acoustics gear. “They’ve always had an outdoor venue with V-DOSC for outdoor P.A. and never had a problem with it,” Rinas says. “For the new room, they had two requirements: The P.A. had to be rider-friendly, for any artist from Justin Timberlake to the smallest act, and it had to be the latest and greatest, because when it comes to Harrah’s and Caesars Entertainment, they want to be the big boys on the block.”
There were a few upgrades along the way, according to Rinas. “Some of our first designs were based on current (at the time) L-Acoustics products. After a phone call with Dave Weidenhoffer [L-A’s regional sales manager] about different designs, the idea of a product about a year out of production was pitched and Sound Image and the casino ran with that idea. About three months later, we had a P.A. that would handle anything Harrah’s could throw at it and it was super easy to work with. It solved quite a few of our design issues right from the start.”
The venue’s front of house system is comprised of 18 K2 line source enclosures (w/transport), eight SB28 double-18 subs, seven ARCS II constant curvature cabinets (w/transport), seven coaxial 12XT fills and four LA-RAK touring racks, each loaded with three LA8 amplified controllers. The K2 and ARCS II will occasionally be stored next door to the ballroom, while subs, fills and racks will not move.
The monitor system features 10 12XT coaxial boxes as stage wedges, four ARCS Wide constant curvature cabinets, four SB18 single-18 subs and two LA-RAK, each loaded with three LA8. All the monitor systems are portable and can be deployed as needed.
Whether hosting rap or Rachmaninoff, bass is an important consideration. “The subs are located in two cubbyhole soffits located behind each P.A. hang,” Rinas adds. “Two of these on each side of the stage were provided for the entire original P.A. [subs and tops] to reside in. Then they extended the stage forward, so we had to pull the P.A. farther out to maintain our wide horizontal pattern. We did use the lower of these grill cloth-covered cubbyholes to house the subwoofers, which aren’t cardioid, but straight front-fired ground stacks. The four [SB28 double-18] subs on each side can throw low frequencies all the way to the back of the room. So far, we’ve had one rap show in there. Originally, the artist said we’d have to bring in subs, but after hearing the system, [the artist] felt that was unnecessary.”
Issues and Answers
“When we started two years ago, we were discussing a V-DOSC rig. Back then, L-Acoustics said they’d be coming out with the K2 system in a year, and from that moment on, the entire system was built around a K2 rig. It turned out to be a perfect fit, especially with the ways you can do very wide multiple angles with it.”
The rig’s flexibility in directionality control turned out to be a major plus. The K2 offers four horizontal directivity settings in one box: 70°and 110° symmetrical; 90° asymmetrical left or right. And as this K2 control is effective down to 300 Hz, it was ideally suited for redirecting sound away from side walls in a room that’s essentially a wide, rectangular box, with all the seats ether on the floor or combined with stadium seating in the rear of the room. The speaker system handles both seating arrangements without having to re-aim and is still capable of getting high SPL to the back of the room.
All the amps and systems run L-Acoustics’ LA Network Manager software. “It’s currently loaded with three sessions [presets],” Rinas notes, “one running half-room, which splits the venue for local events; another preset for using the entire floor as a banquet hall; and a third program to cover events where the rear quarter of the room can be fitted with stadium-style seats that go all the way up the rear wall, almost to the ceiling. They simply need to punch in a preset and they’re ready to go.”
There were other issues and requirements as well. Any multipurpose banquet hall/performance venue can complicate the acoustical design, where occasionally, the look of the hall can win over acoustics. The room featured large, prominent chandeliers hung throughout the venue that needed to be considered. The P.A. had to be quickly removable for events where the speakers would not be used or the touring act was carrying its own P.A. The room’s system had to be both 100 percent rider-friendly as well as able to accommodate multiple musical styles — from rap to classical.
No easy feat, but in this case, the K2s handled all of the client’s requests. “The speed at which the K2 boxes can be hung or taken down is great. When fully trained, the P.A. can be dropped and stored in less than an hour by casino personnel. There is very little storage area for the P.A. when it’s not hanging out in the room, so the carts make it very compact. Given the large chandeliers in the room and the length of the room, there were delay speakers in the original design. This added time and cost to take down the delays when the room was to be sectioned off to a smaller room or the main P.A. was not being used. With the K2 boxes, no delay speakers are needed, saving time and storage space.”
Rinas also applied some of his own personal experiences and outlooks. “Being an engineer for Sound Image and some of the local venues out here, walking in to a local venue with a house P.A. is always hit or miss,” he says. “What’s the condition of the PA, is it aimed right, how does it sound? It’s great to know that when a band calls about a show here, there’s no stress about the condition or type of P.A. If it’s L-Acoustics and Sound Image you know that great thought and design went in about how it sounds and ease of use to get in and get going.”
The Mixing Side
“Originally, an [Avid] SC-48 was spec’ed for front of house and monitors,” Rinas recalls. “However, we found that most of the acts that come through there wanted their own consoles. (Since opening in mid-May, artists here have included performers such as Joan Jett and Earth Wind & Fire.) The casino has been renting monitor and front of house console packages from us at Sound Image for years. The resort has a Yamaha M7CL and a Yamaha LS9 in their console stock, which they can use for all the local stuff and in-house AV things. But if a touring act isn’t carrying consoles, we can supply whatever they need. It works out great for the client, who doesn’t have to keep big consoles in storage — for example, for the recent Earth, Wind & Fire show, we brought in a Soundcraft Vi6 for the house and a DiGiCo for monitors.”
The snake system is entirely analog, using a combination of the venue’s existing splitters/cabling and some new wiring. “It’s really a trick little system,” Rinas explains. “It’s all analog which lets them run front of house from front of house; monitors and FOH from the front of house position; or front of house and monitors from monitorworld. This can be done from either stage left or stage right, without having to pull any additional cabling. The client likes it analog, because they know it works and we like analog because you can’t go wrong with copper.”
Rave Reactions
“Harrah’s loves the P.A. sound. Dave Brooks, John ‘Haircut’ Tompkins and I were shooting the room when Harrah’s VP of operations came in with a couple other high-end people,” Rinas recalls. “These guys are into high-fidelity home theater systems and when they heard music playing over the P.A., they liked the sound from anywhere they walked in the room. They couldn’t believe it and were impressed by the fact that we didn’t require any delay speakers and weren’t having any issues with reflections off the walls or ceilings. We can also sneak the sound under these gigantic ceiling chandeliers without losing coverage in the back of the room.”
And in the end, it always comes down to keeping the customer satisfied. “Harrah’s Rincon has been using L-Acoustics for years in its outdoor venue, and have been very happy with the quality of the system. It’s always refreshing to work with a client that knows what they want and have the ability to recognize quality.”
Harrah’s Resort Southern California Event Center
Venue
Location: Valley Center, Calif.
Max Capacity: 2,200 (concert)
Sound Contractor: Sound Image
FOH System
Mains: (18) L-Acoustics K2s (in L/R hangs of nine each)
Center Cluster: L-Acoustics ARCS II
Fills: (7) L-Acoustics 12XT coaxials
Subwoofers: (8) L-Acoustics SB28 double-18’s
Amplification: (4) LA-RAKs, each with three LA8 amplified controllers.
Console: Varies per artist request; Yamaha M7CL and LS9 available onsite.
Monitor System
Wedges: (10) L-Acoustics 12XT coaxials
Stage Fills: (4) L-Acoustics ARCS II with (4) SB18 single-18 subs.
Amplification: (2) LA-RAKs, each with three LA8 amplified controllers.
Console: Varies per artist requests.
