Inside Some Recent Installs Involving New Audio Systems and Upgrades
Audio installations and upgrades within sports facilities typically present severe challenges to integrators and system designers. Perhaps the most formidable of these is the sheer scale of multiple coverage areas. The latter often entails working with enormous, cavernous open-air spaces, but also delivering an acceptable listening experience to everyone occupying in the seats, whether fans are courtside or in the upper “nosebleed” seats of an arena or — in a stadium project — on the grandstand, bleachers, end zones or beneath a second/third deck.
Meanwhile, with the rise of multi-use facilities, such as baseball one day, football the next, or basketball/hockey shared with concerts, the situation facing the audio system designer becomes that more complex.
The task is further complicated by issues such as reverberation and intelligibility — particularly in enclosed spaces. Another significant factor to be considered is the exuberance of the fans themselves, and the need for the P.A. system to be heard above crowd noise that can easily peak at 105 dB or more. Last but not least, are the challenges of getting the entire installation performed correctly, safely, on time and on budget, when those two invaluable commodities — time and money — are so often in scarce supply.
With that in mind, we decided to look into four recent sports facility installation projects. Each of these were entirely different, not only in capacity, but also in system/venue criteria, yet all with successful outcomes that worked for all concerned — designers, integrators, teams, management, and most of all, the fans.
Wayne State University Arena, Detroit, MI
The Wayne State Warriors officially opened the university’s new basketball arena with a game against rivals the Michigan Wolverines. The new $25-million, 3,000-seat venue also hosts the NBA Detroit Pistons’ G League franchise, the Motor City Cruise. This year, the teams and fans coming to see them will experience excellent sound, via an L-Acoustics A Series P.A. system designed and spec’d by consultancy Idibri and installed by integrator Ametek.
Key to the project’s success was keeping sound on the seats and off the reflective hardwood basketball court and venue walls. To accomplish that, Idibri’s design team chose custom color-matched L-Acoustics A Series; specifically, eight main arrays for the seating area, each with four A15i (two A15i Wide plus two A15i Focus), an end-court fill system of two A15i Wide and two court-floor fill arrays of four A15i Wide — all powered by L-Acoustics LA4X amplified controllers. To add LF punch, two hangs of four KS21i subs in a dipole configuration are powered by one LA12X.
“Using the A15i, we can get consistent coverage over the entire seating area, using the Focus’ 10 degrees of vertical dispersion and the Wide’s 30 degrees,” explains Ben Boeshans, senior consultant and lead system designer for Idibri.
The unique horizontal steering technology of Panflex enabled Boeshans to adjust the design literally on the fly when it became clear that a wall close to one side of the arena would be acoustically problematic. “On one side, the arrays were closer to the wall than on the other, but we were able to adjust the A15, using Panflex steering fins, to have a 90-degree angle of dispersion instead of 110 degrees, keeping the energy off the wall,” he says. “Adjusted in a matter of minutes in the field, it’s a real testament to how flexible the L-Acoustics systems can be.”
Brendan Dillon, the senior engineer on the project for systems integrator SoundCom Systems, a subsidiary of Ametek, was impressed with the flexibility of A15 onsite and the precision of its coverage.
“Once we hung a cluster, we connected some temporary cabling and ran pink noise through the boxes to check the connections,” he recalls, noting that the speaker clusters and amplifiers are connected to a QSC Core processor via AES. “I was down on the floor, and you could literally step across the edge of the pattern — the energy stopped precisely where it was supposed to at the edge of the court. I had never heard that kind of ultra-tight pattern control before.”
WSU’s design and construction services project manager Matt Tarantine, who had been listening to the system throughout its installation and in different parts of the building, was impressed by its performance. “It can knock the roof off of the arena if you need it to, especially the low-end,” he says.
Dillon adds, “On the QSC touch panel, you can see what any speaker or amplifier is doing and make any changes you want in a matter of minutes, right from the scorer’s table. To have a P.A. system that sounds this good and is this flexible is pretty amazing.”
Inside the WSU Arena
- Capacity: 3,000
- Key Components: L-Acoustics A Series
- Designer: Idibri
- Integrator: Ametek/SoundCom
- More Info: l-acoustics.com
Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama, Japan
Yokohama Stadium began in 1876 as the common ground for cricket competitions. In 1929, it was reconstructed as a 15,000-seat baseball stadium. Then in 1978, Yokohama Stadium was rebuilt as Japan’s first multi-purpose stadium and officially named Yokohama Stadium. In 2018, a complete renovation was launched, increasing its seating to just over 34,000.
Now one of the most important sports facilities in Japan, Yokohama Stadium upgraded with an RCF sound system in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were postponed to earlier this year due to Covid. The largest venue in the Kantō region, the stadium is primarily used as the home field of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars baseball team, but artists who’ve performed concerts there over the years included Santana, David Bowie, Madonna and Michael Jackson.
“The system is perfect for the size and shape of the facility with its skillful design, with easy tuning of the speakers, orientation and level balance,” says Taketoshi Kobayashi, lead engineer of project integrator Onkyo Tokki.
The RCF speaker system serves as a PAGA system (public address and general alarm system). The main systems, consisting of two arrays of four TTL 33-WP each, are placed on six light poles around the Stadium (total 48 speakers). Flybars are fixed to custom-built titanium brackets.
Yokohama Stadium’s seating expansion has expanded visitor capacity on each side, with four P4228 placed on the top edge of the left wing and five units on the right wing. Additionally, nine P3108 and a P4228 are placed under-balcony to cover the seats behind the plate. Lastly, a P2110-T and a P8015-S are installed to cover the dugout.
“The TTL 33-WP and other RCF loudspeakers were essential to maintain clarity of the sound without losing the volume of the lower part of the spectrum,” says Kobayashi, “contrary to the situation where the volume in the low-frequency is lost due to prioritizing clarity, which is often seen in outdoor facilities. I was impressed by RCF’s intelligibility. In particular, sound from the opposite side of the field is well controlled, which contributes to the improvement of clarity and sound quality.”
Inside the Yokohama Stadium
- Capacity: 34,000
- Key Components: RCF TTL 33-WP
- Designer/Integrator: Onkyo Tokki
- More Info: rcf.it
T-Mobile Park, Seattle, WA
“Today’s large-scale stadium/arena is vastly different than it was 10 years ago,” states Jeff Sanderson, senior design engineer — large venue sound for Diversified U.S. “With a 40,000+ seat stadium like T-Mobile Park (Seattle), the biggest consideration is speaker placement for coverage, throw distance, building structure, HVAC — a lot of areas come into play. The fan experience was key. Even for events that are beyond baseball, concert and corporate events, consideration needs to be given to the full system — concourse, announcements, etc.”
Sanderson was the original system designer for the initial installation at T-Mobile Park. A sound system upgrade at T-Mobile Park was in discussion for about eight years. “Most stadiums are 10-15 years on a sound system,” he says. “With a focus on creating the best fan experience, the Mariners decided to transfer to a new system in 2020. We chose d&b audiotechnik’s xS-Series.”
He’s very familiar with d&b systems. “We did an all-d&b upgrade for the Anaheim Angels, and took the Mariners crew there in 2018, to give them a demo during a game-time experience. We demoed systems head-to-head and the client really leaned toward d&b. The quality differences blew the client away, providing an unmatched fan experience, which was our ultimate goal. Musically, it required very little adjustment. Over the years, the biggest change is on the audio network side via Ethernet, control, etc. Now we have a fiber backbone to control systems, with no hums, which is nice. Using the Q-Sys plug-in, all the tuning and adjustments for system EQ is controlled through the Q-Sys,” Sanderson explains.
“Upper deck arrays use an d&b 18S-SUB mounted together with 24S point-source speakers for the front, 12S-D down and 12S-D rear-firing cabinets,” he adds. “There are 35 total positions in the upper deck layout, with more than twice number of subwoofers than the previous system. A VLAN carrying Q-LAN and Dante are on the same network, with 24S and 12S-D point-source speakers supporting the lower seating area. We were excited to see it in action once baseball opened back up.”
“The original system, which was installed when T-Mobile Park opened in 1999, had served its purpose and it was time to upgrade to something that would enhance the fan experience and give us more control over the sound profile for ballpark events,” says Ben Mertens, Seattle Mariners senior director, productions.
With their unobtrusive cabinet design, the d&b xS-Series of installation loudspeakers can be strategically positioned within a variety of venues, including restaurants, bars, meeting facilities, assembly halls, as well as clubs, houses of worship and multipurpose venues. For added flexibility, the S-Series’ rotatable horns enable horizontal or vertical use, while the cardioid subwoofer technology delivers low frequencies exactly where needed.
Since high quality sound shouldn’t have to be limited to indoor, temperature-controlled environments, d&b has solutions for weatherization, saltwater conditions, as well as any aesthetic needs. “Even the color delivered was spot on,” notes Sanderson — “the same shade of green used on seats, outfield walls and other areas of the ballpark.”
Diversified also installed new fiber throughout, working directly with the Mariners IS department for a separate network island. For servicing, users can remotely access the computer and core to address any issues if necessary. “The d&b DS10 Dante based interface provides AES outputs for the amplifiers to receive signal,” explains Sanderson. “Q-Sys is used by the FOH engineer for game time operations and troubleshooting. Should there be an issue, we have ways to get into the guts of the system to diagnose the problem.” SMAART was used for time alignment.
Pattern control is especially important in stadiums. The retractable roof at T-Mobile Park can be highly reverberant, so Diversified used a high-density system approach, getting speakers as close to listeners as possible. And the client was pleased with the outcome, according to Mertens. “The upgrade in the audio experience has helped T-Mobile Park stay current with more recently constructed venues and provide the kind of experience our fans expect.”
Inside T-Mobile Park
- Capacity: 40,000+
- Key Components: d&b xS-Series
- Designer/Integrator: Diversified U.S.
- More Info: dbaudio.com
Crusader Stadium, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, TX
Crusader Stadium is the home of the NCAA Cru Football team at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Daktronics upgraded the end-zone scoreboard and sound system with the goal of doubling the size of the video display area while minimizing changes to the existing structure.
The new, enlarged video display consumed all available space within the existing structure. An additional structure was required to house a new sound system; this structure was added above the video display. Due to wind-loading concerns, the height of this additional structure was restricted to about six feet in height, limiting the available space for loudspeakers.
The speaker system’s end-zone location also necessitated a high-output solution to achieve suitable sound levels at the farthest seats. In addition, strict pattern control is necessary to keep sound within the seating bowl, avoid excessive sound levels on the field and at the seats, and minimize sound reflecting off the Bawcom Student Union building behind the seats on the east side of the stadium.
For long-throw coverage, Daktronics deployed six Fulcrum Acoustic AHS speaker modules in the horizontal “ribbon” above the video area of the scoreboard. Each AHS module packs a lot of output into a 31-inch tall package, with up to four coaxial compression drivers and four horn-loaded 10” woofers per module. The available space within the scoreboard structure allowed for three stacks of two modules each; this provides sufficient output to achieve the project’s sound level goals for the seating areas. The high-frequency driver density provides the output needed to minimize HF air loss, which becomes problematic over stadium-scale distances.
“The AH family of loudspeakers showed us that this level of output was possible from a relatively compact enclosure,” says David Gunness, Fulcrum Acoustic’s VP of R&D. “The AHS is just the next phase of development for long-throw applications; meant to deliver significant high frequency projection and an adjustable vertical pattern to provide the exact coverage required.”
The compact enclosure of Fulcrum Acoustic’s AHS Series allows incorporating modules within the available space above the video display and be maneuvered on-site during installation more easily than other solutions. “Even when stacked, Fulcrum’s AHS products easily fit within the space provided,” says applications engineer David Sturzenbecher.
“Maximizing video display size is a common goal for new scoreboards. When designing companion sound systems, smaller is always better,” says Rich Frembes, Fulcrum product director. “The fact that the AHS provides precise coverage and substantial output from such a small footprint is a benefit for any stadium.”
Two stacks of two AHS440 modules are splayed left and right of center to cover the far seating along the sides of the stadium. The 45° horizontal dispersion of the AHS440 maintains lateral uniformity within the coverage pattern. Fulcrum Acoustic’s beam forming DSP algorithms configure the vertical dispersion as required by the specific geometry of the stadium. The middle stack features an AHS440 stacked on an AHS460 (60° horizontal) aimed down the centerline of the field to provide long-throw coverage of the far end as well as coverage of the playing field.
Coverage for seating areas closer to the scoreboard is supplied by two AH463 coaxial horns positioned at the outer edges of the scoreboard. A single FH1596 full range coaxial horn supplies down-fill coverage for the grassy berm and near-endzone area. Two additional FH1565 full range coaxial horns are embedded within separate niches to provide side-fill coverage. Two stacks of three Sub218L dual-18 subwoofers extend the system’s LF response. And three-high stacks of the subs can fit within the available space due to the Sub218L’s low profile. All speakers are powered via Dynacord IPX Series amps, and QSC Q-Sys DSP is employed throughout.
“It’s an impressive full-range system with a remarkable level of control,” says Sturzenbecher. “I can already imagine utilizing the AHS for many more applications, particularly stadiums, going forward.”
Inside the Crusader Stadium
- Capacity: 9,118
- Key Components: Fulcrum Acoustic Coaxial Horns
- Designer/Integrator: Daktronics
- More Info: fulcrum-acoustic.com
