HARRISON, NJ – New York's Major League Soccer team, the New York Red Bulls, have a new home stadium, the new Red Bull Arena, which was equipped by P.A. system designer Acoustic Dimensions with EAW AX and MK series speakers before opening earlier this year.
The arena features a European design, with a canopy that encircles the two-tiered seating area. The first row seats are approximately 21 feet from the touchlines, while the following rows are steeply raked, bringing fans closer to the action.
"This is the only soccer stadium of its kind in the United States," noted Acoustic Dimensions project manager Brian Elwell. A catwalk that follows the path of the canopy made access to the hang points easier, but the proximity of the canopy to the seats created coverage challenges for the P.A. system design. The closer speakers were located to seating areas, the less dispersion that each speaker could deliver. At the same time, however, simply adding boxes to expand the density of coverage would not have been cost-effective. That's where the combination of boxes from EAW's AX and MK Series came in.
Acoustic Dimensions specified a system of alternating hang points along the perimeter of the 1,400-linear-foot canopy. Each main hang point was equipped with an EAW AX364-WP Arrayable Install Loudspeaker (aimed for long-throw use), an EAW MK2399-WP Two-Way Full Range Installation Loudspeaker (rear firing) and an EAW MK2394-WP Two-Way Full Range Installation Loudspeaker (down firing). These main clusters alternate with intermediate hangs with an additional MK2399-WP (rear firing) and an MK2394-WP (down firing). EAW AX396-WP Arrayable Install Loudspeaker units were also used along the 350 feet of canopy over the west press box side of the arena. In all, 24 AX Series speakers and 82 MK Series speakers were used.
"In terms of the amount of output versus the cost per box, EAW was by far the best choice," said Elwell. "Their coverage pattern met all of our needs and from a cost point of view they are the most efficient available. We've been extremely pleased with the overall coverage we've gotten with this P.A. system – it gives us great sound at every single seat."
Casey Sherred, consultant with Acoustic Dimensions on the project, cited the AX Series cabinets' full-range design as another factor steering the project toward EAW gear. "We didn't have to do a crossover in DSP because the cabinet sounds great on its own," he said. "Then you add the EAW Focusing alignment and driver processing via the EAW UX8800 dual-mode digital processor, which further enhances the performance of the cabinet, and that makes the system really shine. We get great performance out of a very cost-effective solution without having to spend additional money on DSP crossover amplification. That's really incredible."
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