Hosting basketball and hockey games in Topeka since opening in the 1980s, The 7,000 seat multipurpose Landon Arena at Stormont Vail Events Center also hosts large events and live music. A recent renovation has seen Avant Acoustics install Fulcrum Acoustic loudspeakers to upgrade the sound system.

With reverberation and reflective surfaces compromising speech intelligibility, a distributed system was required due to aesthetics and weight concerns from the installation of a new video board. Avant Acoustics specified Fulcrum’s FH15 Full-Range Coaxial Horn for its broadband pattern control to avoid interferences caused by the room reflections.

‘We considered a system of distributed line arrays, but that would have been cost prohibitive, as would adding acoustical treatment,’ says designer, John Hodgson. ‘We knew that Fulcrum’s FH series would provide the level of audio quality and clarity that was required even in the absence of additional acoustical treatment for the room. We listened to a demo of the new FH loudspeakers and knew they were the best point source option for the project.’

The new video board installation prevented the loudspeakers from being placed in the centre for aesthetic and weight reasons. To work around this, Avant Acoustics designed the FH15s in six separate arrays of three around the arena to cover the stands and to fire back at the arena floor.

‘Often when we design point source arrays, we struggle to get them in an acoustically appropriate arrangement due to interference,’ Hodgson says. ‘The FH arrays very well due to its pattern control and coaxial design. The intelligibility of the new system is great for such a reverberant space.’

Hodgson also chose Fulcrum’s CX15 Compact Coaxial Loudspeakers for upper balcony coverage. ‘The broad pattern of the CX1526 was an ideal fill for the balcony spaces at the ends of the arena,’ he says. ‘They were a perfect choice since these produce the same high fidelity as the FH but don’t require the long throw.’