Dover Athletic Equips Upgraded Stadium with Martin Audio
National League football club Dover Athletic has substantially invested in the facilities at its 6,500-capacity Crabble ground in Kent, both to meet the Football League criteria, and also provide a better match-day experience for its supporters.
The centrepiece is the new £1.3m cantilevered Family Stand, which aside from providing a further 500-seats and improved facilities for players, officials and disabled supporters alike, required a state-of-the-art public address system.
Old Barn Audio (OBA) were awarded the contract, and as they have on so many occasions recommended a Martin Audio CDD (Coaxial Differential Dispersion) solution — in this case dipping into the ‘WR’ series.
“The weatherised CDD-WR was the perfect choice,” stated director Phil Clark. “And with 32 enclosures installed it is the largest CDD-WR install yet in the UK.”
The company first carried out a demo for the club chairman, Jim Parmenter, using CDD10-WR’s. “He was extremely impressed with both the quality and dispersion,” says Clark.
As a result, OBA’s contract was extended from the Family Stand to all four stands spread over seven zones. The new design would replace a simple 100v horn based system.
The system integrators undertook a site survey which took in the Dover End and River End stands behind the goals and the main stand containing the VIP boxes and Press seating which faces the new all-seater Family Stand and Clubhouse.
“New TV comms all formed part of the new extension, which required replacement of all the old electrics, whereas we were able to tie into the existing infrastructure on the other stands. Commentary for the TV broadcasts is provided from the new control room.
In terms of speaker deployment the new Family Stand has been equipped with four CDD10-WR, fixed to the leading edge of the roof, all angled down using standard flying yokes to tilt the angles accurately and ensure even coverage.
The 541-capacity Dover End away stand now benefits from six CDD10-WR in a row along the front leading edge in two banks of three (one array angled out and the other reversed) in order to respectively cover the walkway in front of the stand and the supporters in the stand itself. This stand, being for away supporters, can be addressed independently for advanced post match evacuation purposes.
The facing River Stand offers an identical loudspeaker spec.
The Main Stand is divided into two, bisected by the VIP box and Press seating, which covers two levels. The former is equipped with four equally spaced CDD8-WR at either end — each block variously pointing in opposite directions, while a further pair of CDD8-WR’s operate under separate remote volume control for the VIP box and a pair of CDD6TX-WR covers the Press seating.
Finally, the Clubhouse has been equipped with four of the smaller CDD5TX-WR around the outside of the building.
States Phil Clark, “This is our first football stadium using CDD-WR and we have managed to deliver a fully integrated set-up, complete with cabling headroom for further extension. While the layout itself was fairly straightforward it was the vastness of the site and 1.5 miles of armoured cable required, that proved challenging. All had to be terminated correctly, secured neatly on cable trays, as high priority was placed on tidiness throughout the site.”
He said they also designed the system to be “bullet proof” while true integration was implemented with the aid of intuitive custom control panels on a 10in tablet to control mutes, volumes, etc — all linked to the Fireman’s Mic for evacuation purposes. The entire system is driven by Powersoft amplifiers and controlled by Symetrix Solus NX DSP.
K-array Boosts Fan Experience at Lincoln Financial Field Stadium
You may not see NFL football team Philadelphia Eagles vying for the Super Bowl next week, but the team still had a lot to celebrate this season. The Eagles’ home stadium, the Lincoln Financial Field, recently underwent a two-year renovation plan to enhance the fan experience. Improved amenities included new HD video boards, Wi-Fi, and seat expansion.
To accommodate some of these updates, Lincoln Financial Field had a requirement to provide top quality sound to premium seating on the edge of the football field. With sub-par sound arriving from distant speakers, the front row seats needed a bit of a boost for optimum intelligibility. With little space available for speaker mounting, K-array had just the solution.
Installers Diversified Systems was introduced to the Italian manufacturer a few years back at a demo and reached out immediately to K-array America to determine a PA that would meet all the clients’ needs. Together they designed a system using the Anakonda KAN 200+ flexible, two-meter speaker.
“The Anakonda is very low profile, offers a built-in daisy chaining feature, and can survive outdoor installations,” explained project supervisor and engineer, Jeff Dykhouse. “These qualities made it ideal for this sort of application.” Dykhouse, along with Director of AV Engineering Pete O’Neil, Project Manager TJ Beardsmore, had 22 Ankonda units mounted along the curvature of the stadium seating and are powered by a QSC CXD amplifier which is connected to the larger DSP system at the venue.
“The clients are happy and we are sure our efforts will help fans to cheer on their team to a winning season,” exclaimed Dykhouse.
Grand Canyon U Chooses EAW For Ultimate Soccer Experience
Grand Canyon University, located in Phoenix, Arizona, is on a mission to build 10 new sports venues in the next two years. They kicked off their 10-in-2 initiative with GCU Stadium, a state-of-the-art soccer stadium that boasts a new EAW QX sound reinforcement system designed and installed by Sound Image’s Tempe, Arizona-based office.
“The president of the university really likes using audio to generate energy for the fans,” explains Ben Davis, project manager, Sound Image. “He wants all of their sporting events to be high energy – the EAW QX system hit all of their check marks for what they wanted for the stadium.”
After reviewing the University’s public bid, Davis put together a design based on EAW QX loudspeakers that fit their criteria. He also included an EAW SB2001 subwoofer option for consideration now or in the future. The school was so impressed, they decided to not only award the project to Sound Image, but have them install the SB2001 subs along with the QX loudspeakers.
“They wanted loudspeakers that would create a chest thumping experience, had exceptional audio quality, and could be weather-proofed to withstand the rigors of an outdoor installation while adding to the longevity of their investment,” Davis adds. “QX has enough paper to create the punch, the SB2001 subs provide tremendous low end and EAW does a great job with weather-protecting their products. It was perfect – it hit all of their check marks.”
The new stadium features seating capacity for more than 6,000 spectators, including 3,000 shaded chairback seats. The QX system consists of six clusters mounted along the roof structure above the seating section. Each cluster is made up of two QX loudspeakers – one QX594 firing straight down and a QX564 for long throw – with two SB2001 subwoofers located directly behind the QX boxes for that “chest thumping experience” they wanted.
“The sound quality from EAW is exceptional,” Davis says. “And because the QX has the two different loudspeaker angles – the 594 and 564 – it was simple to get even long and short throw coverage throughout the stands.”
Davis continues, “We were required to hang the loudspeaker clusters from a small I-beam while maintaining shear and our 10:1 load rating – which we accomplished with rigging systems designed and manufactured by Sound Image. Better yet, we were able to get it all done in a day, which was the time allotted by our client.”
The QX loudspeakers feature four Phase-Aligned 12-inch low frequency transducers arranged as vertical and horizontal pairs around a central coaxial mid/high-frequency horn. This arrangement provides exceptional fidelity as well as very high output and control across the entire operating range, providing designers the ability to achieve high impact and consistency even in large facilities such as the GCU Stadium.
“The school is extremely pleased with the end result,” concludes Davis. “As a matter of fact, a huge storm came through a while back and destroyed part of the building’s roof. Fortunately, EAW loudspeakers are built to withstand just about anything – when the dust settled they were still hanging and worked just fine.”
Texas Tech Joins Ranks of Danley Sound Labs Basketball Arenas
United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas is home to Texas Tech University’s Raiders basketball and volleyball teams. Built in 1999, the 15,000-seat facility is part of the cultural lifeblood of midsized Lubbock, hosting games, concerts, and other big events. While famed basketball coach Bobby Knight piloted the team (2001–2008), the game-time atmosphere relied on the band, spoken word announcements, and little else. But since his departure, it has moved toward more modern music playback, a task for which the existing sound system was inadequate. Enter Danley Sound Labs: A recent installation of Danley Sound Labs’ patented Synergy Horn point-source loudspeakers and tapped horn subwoofers has United Supermarkets Arena rocking, a fact that may have inspired the team’s great 2016 season and NCAA Tournament appearance.
“Our old sound system, which was installed when the arena was built, had worn well but was also well-worn,” said Eric Newell, technical director and production manager for the arena. In the run up to the 2016 season, Newell and his team got the budget to update the scoreboard and the sound system. Larry Lucas at Anthony James Partners designed the system, and Ted Leamy led the installation for Panasonic/ProMedia.
Texas Tech had its collective eye on Danley and another high-profile loudspeaker manufacturer, so Lucas arranged for a shoot-out. “It was side-by-side so there was no ambiguity,” recalled Newell. “The decision to go with Danley was unanimous. The sound was obviously fuller and more realistic. Importantly, the Danley subwoofers sounded fantastic and gave the arena the low end we were hoping for.”
The new Danley system uses eight clusters of two Danley SH-96HOs each, which ring the perimeter of the basketball court. The lower box covers from the first row through most of the lower bowl. The upper box picks up the coverage to finish the lower bowl, along with almost all of the upper bowl. “The coverage is excellent,” said Newell. “There’s a phantom center pretty much anywhere you’re at such that sound seems to be always coming from directly in front of you. It’s really a nice balance.” Unlike the old system, which went up with the scoreboard for concerts, only the Danley boxes above the stage-side of the arena need to retract for concerts. They raise high enough to stay out of the way of concert rigging.
Two stacks of three Danley TH-118 subwoofers each on the north and south sides of the scoreboard fill United Supermarkets Arena with deep, robust bass. Twelve smaller Danley SM-80 loudspeakers provide upper-balcony fill for areas that are shadowed from the main boxes, and two additional Danley SH-96HOs fire straight down from the ceiling to cover the court. In all, 15 four-channel Danley 20K4 Pro amplifiers provide abundant, clean power and turnkey (but fully-customizable) DSP that’s purpose built to work hand-in-glove with the Danley boxes.
Soon after the system was installed, Joel Moak, Danley’s western regional sales manager, and legendary acoustician Doug Jones (now a potent member of the Danley team) flew to Lubbock to verify that the system was in perfect alignment. “Everyone is in love with the new Danley system,” Newell concluded. “The videographers were initially concerned that the deep, loud bass was perhaps too much. This came up at a meeting with numerous stakeholders present, and everyone ultimately agree that the deep bass was what everyone wanted! And it proved especially useful this past season because we had so many exciting games – a lot that we won at the buzzer. It was a relief to have a Danley system that could get up and over the crowd noise to keep the atmosphere amped.”
Daktronics LED Video Displays Installed at Hampden Park
Hampden Park, Scotland’s National Stadium of Glasgow, United Kingdom, and the Scottish FA have partnered with Daktronics (NASDAQ-DAKT) of Brookings, South Dakota, for the company to design, manufacture and install two new LED video displays that are twice the size of the previous displays. Installation of the displays was completed this spring and they are ready to entertain and inform fans on game days.
“The screens are simply awesome, but also an integral part of making the Hampden match day a more interactive experience for fans,” said Scottish FA Chief Executive Stewart Regan. “They also create new advertisement and engagement opportunities for participating clubs, the Scottish FA itself and our sponsors and partners.”
The installation of two displays, each featuring 13HD pixel layouts and measuring 5.49 meters high by 19.75 meters wide, was part of a plan to improve the stadium infrastructure and boost the spectator experience for the upcoming UEFA EURO 2020. Each display features more than 100 square meters. One display is installed at each end of the stadium to bring excellent image clarity and contrast with wide angle visibility to fans throughout the venue.
“The displays really enhance spectator experience as they add terrific color and vibrancy to the stadium,” said Andrew Niven, the Scottish FA’s UEFA EURO 2020 Project Leader. “We spent time reviewing UEFA EURO 2016 to understand how we could achieve full integration of the event and provide full infotainment to the spectators. We believe these new screens will enable Hampden Park to host a first-class UEFA EURO 2020.”
“Daktronics handled everything first-class and in a tight timeframe from the decommissioning of the previous displays to the new steel frame and display installation through testing and programming,” said Hampden Park Ltd. Managing Director Peter Dallas. “They succeeded through a robust tender process due to their quality, project management and final installation. They worked very well with all the parties involved to ensure every step of the process was approved and installed correctly. The result is an outstanding installation that we are delighted with.”
The displays are capable of variable content zoning allowing each to show one large image or to be divided into multiple zones to show any variety of live video, instant replays, up-to-the-minute statistics, graphics, animations and sponsorship messages.
“With more display space, we’re able to share more digital content than before to bring our brands to life and provide more information for spectators,” added Dallas. “Viewing logos in a more enticing, 3D-like environment makes the visual experience more interesting and draws eyes to the screen. Providing new player introductions and animated graphics help to enhance key moments of the game giving those moments more of an impact for our spectators. It’s a direct result of the bright colors of the new displays.”
“We’re thrilled to have been selected for this project and to provide a truly amazing experience for Hampden Park, their fans and the upcoming UEFA EURO 2020 tournament,” said Ewan Prentice, Daktronics regional manager. “After the successful installation, we look forward to supporting Hampden Park and the Scottish FA in the future as they host many prestigious and exciting events.”
Daktronics LED video and messaging display technology offers a long lifetime with consistent, industry-leading performance and low power consumption, providing value and excitement for years to come.