Part of a US$321m, two-year upgrade project, the Memorial Stadium at the University of California, Berkeley, is the world’s first sports facility to install Meyer Sound CAL column array loudspeakers, with their advanced beam steering technology.
Some 40 of the slender 10-foot-high columns have been positioned around the stadium’s outer perimeter by Dallas-based acoustical consultants Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams Inc (WJHW).
Aiming to improve the audio clarity for the 63,000-capacity ground while minimising noise concerns for nearby residences, the loudspeakers maintain the clean, classical lines of the ground, which was inspired by Rome’s Coliseum.
For both architectural and environmental noise reasons, a point-source, scoreboard-mounted system was prohibitively problematic: ‘We concluded fairly early in the process that a distributed system was the best solution,’ says WJHW Principal, Jack Wrightson. ‘Later, we found out that Meyer Sound was developing the CAL loudspeaker, and it ended up being the right solution. It kept the historic look of the façade and by all accounts the university is very happy with the performance.
‘We measured an STI-PA average at 0.70 throughout the seating bowl, which is exceptional for a football stadium,’ he adds.
Thirty-eight CAL 96 loudspeakers are spaced around most of the bowl rim (except for the press box section), with the enclosures blending with surrounding flagpoles. The coherent, wide-bandwidth sound is precisely steered to cover the stands with minimal spill onto the field – and into referee microphones.
‘From an architectural viewpoint, we loved it,’ says Joe Diesko, VP of lead architect HNTB, and project manager for the architectural team. ‘The traditional distributed approach would be big square boxes sitting up there, and a big cluster at one end was out of the question. The CAL solution was just brilliant. They look great, and they sound fabulous.’
Two additional CAL 96 loudspeakers are mounted facing the student section to pump up the crowd. Stands below the new press box required a different solution, in this case relying on Meyer Sound MSL-4, UPM-1P, and UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers. Coverage for the University Club, under-scoreboard and club level sections is supplied by MM-4 and MM-4XP self-powered loudspeakers, and additional UPM-1P loudspeakers. Galileo loudspeaker management systems with three Galileo 616 processors provide signal drive and alignment.
Counting more than 200 Meyer Sound loudspeakers in total, the audio system was designed by John Kosco of WJHW under Wrightson’s direction. Installation was by Parsons Technologies of Minneapolis, Minn. with Jasyn Rousselow serving as lead sound integrator and Rich Norby as crew chief.
More: www.meyersound.com
