VANCOUVER, BC — Vancouver’s 18,630-seat General Motors Place, to be redubbed Canada Hockey Place in anticipation of the Winter Olympic Games starting in Feb. 2010, has already geared up for NHL home team Vancouver Canucks with a loudspeaker, amplifier and network/control system from L-Acoustics.
“We knew we needed to take this venue to a whole new level with a PA system that has outstanding accuracy and vocal intelligibility,” said John Riley, chief audio technician for Canucks Sports and Entertainment, the new owner of General Motors Place. “Our dV-DOSC and dV-SUB arrays combined with the new SB28 subwoofers provide an amazing range. The system delivers clear, perfect sound everywhere within the arena, with consistent, even coverage.”
Riley worked in partnership with Vaino Gennaro, director of live sound products for Sennheiser Canada (distributor for L-Acoustics), in designing the new array-based installation.
Fred Michael, president of Vancouver-based Rocky Mountain Production Services (RMPS), and his senior audio technician, Terry Hilton, completed the system integration and installation with their team in only three weeks, just in time for the first pre-season game.
During the design phase, Gennaro used L-Acoustics’ SoundVision modeling software to verify coverage and create a detailed system model of the arena assuring acoustic accuracy and SPL levels deemed acceptable for the installation.
Since the six dV-DOSC line-source arrays cover all audience and press levels of the arena, no delay speakers were required. The two dV-SUBs per array provide mid-bass reinforcement while the SB28s were included for enhanced sub-bass LF coverage.
L-Acoustics said the DOSC waveguide technology used in dV-DOSC creates a cylindrical wavefront that can be focused above the glass to target just the seating areas, giving players, broadcast engineers and live spectators less interference.
RMPS President Fred Michael took Gennaro’s concept and built on it by adding several enhancements to the original system design, adding dV-DOSC cabinets.
“The new system comprises a total of six identical line arrays made up of 13 dV-DOSC cabinets topped with two dV-SUB subwoofers,” said Cory Allan, Western sales representative for Sennheiser Canada. “The six line arrays are suspended from the high steel rigging points and can be raised into the upper structure concealing them for concert events when necessary. Two arrays are facing the seating areas along the long sides of the arena, and one each for the ends. In addition, the design called for two groups of SB28 dual-18-inch subwoofer cabinets.”
In total, the main audio system now comprises a total of 78 dV-DOSC active two-way, 12 dV-SUB and 16 SB28 enclosures, all with complete rigging. Upgrades to the center-hung scoreboard include the addition of six ARCS speakers to improve on-ice coverage. Power is delivered by a total of 23 L-Acoustics LA8 four-channel/1800W amplified controllers on a redundant fiber network. The sound system enhancements comprise the largest L-Acoustics installation in North America.
According to Riley, the ultimate validation for their efforts came when Denis Hainault, director of ice sports for the Vancouver Organizing Committee, visited the facility. Riley said that Hainault looked at him as said that he had never heard anything sound so good in an arena.
For more information, please visit www.l-acoustics.com.
