The newly renovated BC Place stadium in Vancouver, Canada boasts the world’s largest cable-supported retractable roof and also includes a new audio system highlighted by JBL Professional VLA line arrays installed by Clair Brothers Audio Systems.
BC Place, which reopened in September, is home of the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer, and has hosted year-round major events including the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The new system incorporates 160 JBL VLA601-WRC 3-way line array loudspeakers, making this the largest VLA installation to date.
“We needed loudspeakers that could provide a lot of output and could cover that large space,” notes Jim Devenney, senior engineer, Clair Brothers. “The problem with the older sound system was that the stadium sounded like a cave, which would have become a much bigger problem after adding millions of cubic feet to the building!”
Clair Brothers chose the VLA601-WRC loudspeakers, which employ three 2431H 1.5-inch exit/3-inch diaphragm high-frequency horn-loaded compression drivers with a 60-degree horizontal coverage pattern, two CMCD-82H 8-inch-cone midrange compression drivers and two 2226H 15-inch woofers loaded into JBL’s WRC weatherized enclosures.
Derived from JBL’s VerTec®;Series line array systems, VLA Series loudspeakers are designed to provide high SPL at throw distances beyond the reach of traditional loudspeaker designs and offer a choice of 30-, 60- and 90-degree horizontal horn coverage patterns.
“We use the VLA Series line arrays in a lot of stadium and arena projects because of the defined coverage they provide, and because good articulation is important in spaces like this,” Devenney adds.
Installing the loudspeakers was a challenge, according to Devenney. “We deployed 12 clusters of 11 speakers each, arranged in an oval ring to cover the seating areas, along with 28 VLA601-WRC’s under the scoreboard to cover the field,” he said. “In addition, we placed two JBL PD Series loudspeakers to fill the area underneath the scoreboard.”
BC Place previously had an inflatable dome roof, with the audio and lighting equipment hung from the roof. The new retractable roof has an open space in the middle, and all of the JBL VLA601-WRC clusters hang off winches. “
We had to work closely with all the other parties involved in the renovation to coordinate the installation,” Devenney says. “We had very little time to hang the clusters because they were putting down the artificial turf at the same time. We actually built the clusters outside of the stadium and brought them in on a truck to set them up quickly.”