The 3,400-seat Ed Robson Arena at Colorado College is the first on-campus hockey facility for the Colorado College Tigers in their 86-year history. With Colorado College management recognising that today’s audio systems play a critical part in any stadium and arena event they looked to AJP/CV Lloyde team to equip the new a multi-purpose venue. This team came to the conclusion that LEA Professional would ensure fans would have the best possible experience.
With quality sound in mind, Colorado College brought in A/V consultant AJP to design and integration firm CV Lloyde to install the Ed Robson Arena’s sound system. CV Lloyde recommended using a set of new Dante Connect Series multichannel digital audio amplifiers from LEA Professional as central to its proprosed system.
CV Lloyde Audiovisual has been providing pro A/V design, sales and installation services for more than 150 years, and counts universities, stadiums, houses of worship, school districts, and corporate facilities in a long list of clients.
‘Audiences have gotten used to excellent sound from their home systems and theatres and clubs; it’s expected everywhere,’ says CV Lloyde President, Stephen Morris. ‘To keep fans and audiences coming back, arenas need to put in the effort to improve sound and ensure that audiences and fans cannot just see but also hear everything going on. Colorado College was committed to this, and the results have been great.’
CV Lloyde was responsible for the A/V package, including being part of certain design changes, installation of the new arena sound system, all of the suite and zone programming, and for all exterior/back-of-house sound systems. At the heart of this installation are five Dante-enabled, Connect Series digital audio amplifiers. Two CS704D, two CS354D, and a single CS168D provide a total of 24 audio channels.
‘The arena’s audio system is all connected and controlled via a Dante audio network,’ Morris says. ‘Having out-of-the-box, Dante-ready amplifiers powering it made everything easy to connect and configure.’
The Dante Connect Series is the first professional amplifier family to feature Cloud connectivity. With Dante Connect Series, integrators can harness the power of the Cloud for remote control, monitoring, notifications, and more from nearly any smart device.
The Cloud Platform provides systems integrators with powerful, reliable and secure remote monitoring and control. All LEA Professional amplifiers use a built-in Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT Core. The platform allows integrators to monitor critical operational data points that are integral to maintaining system health remotely. This provides greater visibility to provide preventative maintenance, easier troubleshooting and fewer on-site maintenance requirements.
Since the arena’s opening in 2021, it has hosted games for several hockey leagues, and the arena’s open-skating hours – supported with music – have become popular. The arena also features a multi-purpose event room, a small catering kitchen run by Bon-Appetit, and an outdoor meeting patio space for use in the warmer months.
‘The Ed Robson Arena’s audio system has the sound quality to engage fans and deliver a great experience, and the system’s Dante flexibility allows it to be configured to meet the needs of almost any event,’ Morris adds. ‘The quality, efficiency, and connectivity of the LEA Connect Series amplifiers play a central part in pulling the project together.’
