One of the first LEED certified arenas in the world, the AMSOIL Arena seats 6,600 for hockey and ice shows, and more than 8,500 for concerts and other entertainment. Its sound system was designed and installed by TSI Technology Solutions LLC, the systems division of TSI Global LLC, in St. Charles, Missouri, with consulting provided by Gary White of WJHW in Dallas.
"The budget for this job was smaller than what we typically have to work with for a sports stadium or coliseum," says Scott Durham of TSI, "so we had to be creative. We wanted to hang the least amount of speakers from a limited number of points, but still achieve nice, even coverage. The EVA line arrays' coverage is fabulous."
The original design concept for the system, Durham says, involved 24 multi-cabinet hangs throughout the arena. "That's what's commonly done in sports stadiums, but when we factored in the cost of hanging from that many points, it turned out to be more cost-effective to go with a solution of 12 line arrays. And, when we did the EASE modelling, we realised that the arrays would also give us more even coverage across the seating area."
The key to the success of the design, Durham says, is the way the arrays were hung. "We flew them at steep angles right above the seats. The speakers are actually fairly close, about 55 to 65 feet, but we get very smooth coverage. Unlike a lot of arenas I've been in - some of which I've actually worked on - the sound is exactly the same from the bottom seat right up to the top. So whether you're in the really expensive seats or all the way up, there's no loss of quality. And that was our goal."
Durham credits Electro-Voice technical services, particularly Robert Deyarmond and George Georgallis, as being instrumental in validating the overall design concept and suggesting modifications that yielded improved coverage. "I've worked with EV on multiple projects over the past five years," he says, "and, compared to all the major manufacturers that I deal with, their engineering support is bar-none the best."
The arrays are each composed of either four or six Electro-Voice EVA-2082S full-range dual-element line array modules, with 64 used in all. "We went with Electro-Voice arrays primarily because of the EV horn," Durham says. "We needed incredible intelligibility for voice, and they build an amazing horn. Their array horns are unbeatable compared to anything on the market at less than $5,000 per box. As for EVAs in particular, we chose them because the arrays were close enough that we could still get quality sound with a smaller, less obtrusive cabinet, and that also gave us quite a cost savings."
(Jim Evans)
