NORTHRIDGE, California – Beaver
Stadium, home to Penn State University’s Nittany Lions football team, is one of
the largest in the country with a capacity of almost 107,000. In fact, it is
the second-largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere. The stadium has expanded
six times in its history and recently, systems contractor Clair Brothers
upgraded Beaver Stadium’s sound system with the installation of more than 140
HARMAN’s JBL loudspeakers to improve its performance in a number of coverage
areas.
“We
had already replaced the main PA system in 2007 with a comparatively small JBL
VLA601 and VLA301 line array system, but work still needed to be done to
address areas in the North and South end zones of the stadium where the sound
from the main PA is blocked or where we determined that additional coverage was
needed,” said Jim Devenney, Sr. Systems Designer and Project Manager at Clair
Brothers. “The balconies are large and present significant acoustical barriers.
There were already speakers in place in these areas but they had been there for
a while and needed to be upgraded.”
“In
the South end zone there are three separate areas, the main PA does not cover
since the PA shoots over the top of the entire area. The tight down angle from
the top of the scoreboard makes it impossible for the main PA to adequately
reach those areas.”
“The
lower level is used mostly for student seating, we mounted 16 JBL All Weather
Series AW295 all-weather speakers on the face of the balcony to cover these
seats between the balcony and the field. In addition there are 36 of JBL’s All
Weather Series AWC82 outdoor speakers positioned in two alternating rows of 18,
with 18 pointed straight down and another 18 placed in between them and aimed
back away from the field to cover the area under the balcony.”
“The
Club Level is the next level up and here the balcony directly blocks the sound
from the main PA. To remedy this, 14 AW295 speakers face toward the field and
52 AWC82 speakers are placed facing down. There’s a seating area under the
scoreboard that also needed attention. We added 24 JBL Control 25AV
indoor/outdoor speakers to deliver sound to the people sitting under the
scoreboard.”
“The
top of the lower level seating in the North end zone is also shaded from the
main system by an overhanging balcony. We installed 10 AWC129 speakers here.”
When
it comes to installation challenges Clair Brothers has seen it all, yet the
Beaver Stadium upgrade threw the proverbial fly in the ointment for Devenney
and crew. “Putting up the speakers was the easy part,” Devenney said. “Our
installers loved the speakers as they were well-designed and easy to mount.
However, we had to install them during the Penn State football season so we had
to put up and take down the scaffolding after every game. The schedule was also
so tight that we had the speakers flown from the plant as soon as they were
manufactured! We still were able to complete the installation in four weeks.
The stadium’s operations staff was very helpful with logistics, ensuring the
system installation would stay on schedule.”
HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com)
designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment
solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by
15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®
and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple
generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where
they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped
with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about
13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of
$4.4 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2012.
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