With a new stadium on the horizon in five years, Mets officials decided to upgrade the center cluster design, while retaining the existing horns/drivers for shadowed areas, rather than incur the greater expenditure of a fully distributed system. “The mandate given by the Mets was more low-frequency impact which they didn’t have with the former system,” says Castellani.

He went on to explain that normal system operating level is around 90 dB with a full house, with 10-15 dB peaks during home runs and other times the crowd is at full volume. “During those peaks, the audience feeds off the energy of the audio, and its imperative they be able to hear what song is being played above the crowd noise, so we needed another 10-15 dB to achieve the desired impact,” he explains.

The location of the new primary cluster is a 35-ft-tall steel tower erected behind the center field bleachers, which includes EAW KF750 full-range concert loudspeakers, topped by three new KF754 high-frequency units, intended to project to the upper reaches of the top deck. Eight EAW BH822e horn-loaded subwoofers are tightly packed above the loudspeakers.

Norcon worked with Paul Allen, Allen Products, who facilitated design of custom brackets that strap the loudspeakers together. He also developed “L” and “U” brackets offering additional support at the base of the platform.

“The interesting thing about the structure is that rather than physically moving the speakers which would normally be strapped tightly together, we put 5-in spacing between the KF750 boxes to allow easier service access,” explained Castellani. “The KF754’s needed to be tilted upward 5-10 degrees to attain optimum coverage, so straps had to accommodate this as well.”

All of these loudspeakers, wired individually or in pairs, are powered by Crown Micro-Tech MT2400’s, Macro-Tech MA-3600VZ’s and MA-5000VZ’s, housed in an equipment room located behind the outfield stands, almost 100 ft. from the speaker tower.

Two BSS Soundweb DSP units supply all processing and delay parameters within the cluster, with 10 outputs feeding amp channels - mid- and high-frequency components are divided by rows within the cluster for tuning flexibility. An existing Altec Lansing console at the control position in the grandstand is linked to these components via two 9-pair cables.

Primary program sources included PA and recorded music (including organ) and other recorded programming to support an adjacent Diamondvision video display. Source devices include from CD, DAT, mini disc, and 360 Systems Instant Replay digital playback system.

A tight timeframe on the project didn’t permit underground conduit installation, so Norcon chose West Penn wire capable of withstanding ultraviolet light exposure in open cable trays to span the distance between the bleachers and the center field tower (500 ft. in a direct line and double that in a practical run). All inputs and outputs were transformer balanced to cancel any noise picked up from other communication cables in the trays.

Central Cluster (With Enhancements) At Dodger Stadium

Welcome to Dodger Stadium!

The cap of a two-year renovation project, the Los Angeles Dodgers opened the 2001 MLB season with a new system designed by Acoustic Dimensions, Dallas and installed by the Las Vegas facility of Pro Sound Las Vegas facility.