The massive South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa complex on the Las Vegas Strip has installed a QSC Audio Q-Sys Core 500i network processor, CX Series amplification and AcousticDesign ceiling speakers to handle paging and PA in its recently expanded Arena and Equestrian Center. And it’s not finisjhed yet, a the resort intends to extend the Q-Sys network into a US$m bowling arena planned for completion at the beginning of 2016.

‘When we expanded the arena we took the opportunity to upgrade the processing in there from BASIS to the new Q-Sys 500i.’ says Jason Lein, South Point Production Manager. ‘The system has so much processing power that all of the bowling arena expansion will be run off that same core as well. The bowling center will be built for broadcast TV and we’ll have two new equestrian arenas as well – we’ll run it all off that same system.’

South Point recently expanded a concourse and added meeting rooms to its Arena and Equestrian Center, which features a 4,600-seat show ring, an indoor practice arena and a covered outside arena. The centre also hosts motor sports and other events in addition to equestrian shows. ‘We created four different concourse zones,’ Lein explains. ‘We’ve got a bar, tunnels, a practice arena and 1,200 air-conditioned horse stalls, and new meeting rooms located on the concourse. We run approximately 144 different page configuration options, using both wired and wireless mics for paging. Depending on what horse events are in here we have to set up several different page zoning scenarios on the fly.’

Lein and his crew installed 12 AcousticDesign AD-CI52ST two-way ceiling speakers in the concourse and meeting rooms, as well as TSC-3 networked touchscreen controllers , and added QSC CX602 amplifiers to power the speakers. ‘Everything is QSC amp-based, even in the main arena,’ reports Lein. ‘We’ve got some PowerLight 4.0 amplifiers from the original install that we never need to replace, and we’re using the PL380s as well.’

Production staff members typically use wireless control of the Q-Sys set-up: ‘Whichever tech crew is assigned to an event will grab an iPad or the computer controller and set the paging configurations up prior to that show, based on that event’s needs,’ Lein says. ‘Switching from the BASIS to the Q-Sys system made it very easy for us to program these iPad-controllable UCIs [user control interfaces] to fit those needs, then reset the whole system before the next event, and then set up the next event, all off these UCIs. The Q-Sys system has been a big benefit for that alone.’

At the end of April 2013, South Point, Las Vegas Events and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority jointly announced a 12-year agreement with the US Bowling Congress to host seven championship events in Las Vegas beginning in 2016. South Point, which already features a 64-lane Bowling Center, home to the Professional Bowlers Association’s World Series of Bowling, will build a two-story complex housing a 60-lane bowling facility and two additional horse arenas (sound isolated from the floor above) on the lower level.

‘When we get into the new expansion, the two new arena bowls, we’ll install the new QSC AcousticDesign Series speakers,’ says Lein. ‘We’ll be installing over 100 of the 5.25-inch AD-CI52ST ceiling speakers throughout the bowling center hallways. We’ll also be installing AcousticDesign series speakers for the bowling lanes, with QSC subs placed throughout the bowling center. We’ll probably be adding more Q-Sys I/O Frames later this year.’

The upgrade to the Q-Sys system’s Layer 3 networking technology has made it easier for Lein to program the new set-up. ‘Our new design with Q-Sys, where the schematics are all-in- one is phenomenal. It definitely makes it easier on the programmer,’ he says.

Lein also likes the remote access offered by the system: ‘We’ve got one or two people, myself included, who handle the programming. When we’re at home and we get service calls, it’s so great to be able to have the remote Signal Probe and be able to analyse what’s going on with the system from anywhere.’