Wembley Arena was converted into a large VIP suite for the event, with the main arena blacked out with backdrops covering the seating area and a stage along one side of the venue. This configuration effectively turned the room sideways and could accommodate up to 4,500 guests. The space was divided into areas celebrating the different ages of football. Projection screens gave flashbacks to important matches and interviews, while the main stage hosted presenters, VIP speakers and live entertainment.
Four hangs of nine Kudo cabinets were flown left, right, outer left and outer right of the stage to cover the wide performance area, with four pairs of KIVA ultra compact line source cabinets for front fill, four hangs of eight dV-DOSC for outer fill and eight groundstacked SB28 subwoofers. The system was powered by 21 LA8 amplified controllers.
"This sounds like a very large system, but there were many happy people there, creating a lot of ambient noise," says Lee Dennison, project manager and designer at Delta Sound. "It was predominantly a vocal and music system, but the level needed to be ramped up for some of the entertainment pieces, so it needed to be full range as well.
"The system was great and did exactly what we needed it to. We took advantage of the LA8's low frequency presets to provide distributed and even bass coverage. That, and the fact that KUDO flies so quickly, made it the perfect box for the arena."
(Jim Evans)
