SR/Live Fri, May 09, 2008

NEWARK, New Jersey—The brand new Prudential Center in Newark represents the Tri-State’s first major entertainment venue to be opened in 25 years. Costing a reported $375 million and boasting seating for 17,500+ patrons, the sports and entertainment venue serves as the new home for the NHL New Jersey Devils and the Seton Hall Pirates basketball team, as well as hosts MISL indoor soccer, internationally-touring concerts, family shows, and many other special events.

Major audio and video design was by Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW), Dallas, Tx.According to Kevin Day, WJHW’s sound system designer on the project, Crown amplifiers were selected for Prudential Center following the normal competitivebid process. A total of 126 Crown I-Tech and CTs Series amplifiers equipped with PIP-Lite cards power a variety of JBL loudspeakers installed throughout the venue controlled via Harman’s HiQnet™ network. “The rack-mounted amplifiers are installed on a catwalk platform,” Day explains, “to reduce cable runs and avoid the need for a dedicated cooling system, as would be required if the amps were located in a closet.” The PA system comprises multiple JBL PD743 40x30-degree and PD764 60x40-degree MF/HF coaxial cabinets, along with PD7164 LF cabinets, plus ASM6128 dual-18 subwoofers arrayed in four large clusters that are mounted just above and outside the footprint of the center-hung video/scoring display. Audio system installation was done by Diversified Systems, supervised by Andy Prager, senior project engineer with the contracting firm.

He explained that “for each of the four JBL-equipped clusters, we supplied a total of four I-T4000s for the low-frequency and three I-T4000s for the subwoofer cabinets, while five CTs 1200s feed the midrange and five CTs 600s the high-frequency cabinets.” A delay ring of JBL PD5212/64 20x40-degree loudspeakers is powered by a rack of CTs 2000 amplifiers. The remainder of the CTs Series amplifiers power various full-range loudspeakers located within bars, lounges, meeting rooms and other locations, some on 70-volt systems.

“Remote control and monitoring of all of the amplifier channels via HiQnet using a [Crown-developed] GUI we can set input and output levels and turn groups of amplification on and off. During different events at the Prudential Arena, the owners might decide to run different PA configurations, dependent upon the audience size and location within the space. Two redundant control PCs – one at the sound mixing location and the other within the equipment racks – allow operators to re-configure the entire system within seconds Prager said ” Additionally he noted that “ the operators can monitor load and thermal conditions – and see error-reporting messages – which means they can tell when a speaker is removed from the system. While stealing loudspeakers isn’t foreseen as a major problem, it’s a very useful feature!”

The Prudential Center officially opened in late-October with a ten-night concert series headlined by hometown favorites Bon Jovi along with special guests My Chemical Romance, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Chris Daughtry and All-American Rejects. The venue, which is managed by AEG Live and features 76 luxury suites, 2,200 club seats, and an array of amenities, drew more than 150,000 fans during its opening week. For more information on the new facility, visit http://www.prucenter.com.