Two additional Genesis Horns cover the south end zone, which will be converted to seats and party decks next season, and 56 Danley SH-Minis provide coverage for club seating and the Legends Lounge.
A new Yamaha M7 digital console gives stadium engineers the ability to recall mixes, and a BSS London-series DSP system provides all system equalization, dynamics, routing, and loudspeaker management.
Despite the fact that a Genesis Horn contains 18 drivers, due to ingenious crossover designs, the number of amplifiers required to cover the 70,000-plus seats at Lambeau was quite low. It only required five IP-5000s, nine IP-9000s, and eight IP-12000 Crown amplifiers to provide clean power with ample headroom to the Danley loudspeakers and subwoofers.
Danley Sound Labs’ Mike Hedden notes, “Our products produce industry leading high sensitivities and cutting edge technologies. Other loudspeaker manufacturers would have had an amplifier count at least double ours along with much more required electrical service demands. When you compare this, and then add our lower electrical cost of actual operation, you’ll see why Danley Sound Labs is one of the most “green” loudspeaker companies on the market today.”
Because they have the capacity to throw long distances with appropriate SPL-by-distance performance, the Danley Genesis Horn (GH-60) and its larger sibling, the Jericho Horn (JH-90), represent alternatives to the line array. And in fact, Lucas had considered a line array as a potential solution at Lambeau Field.
“However, two critical factors favored Danley’s solution,” he explains. “First, when you tally up all the costs, a line array system is considerably more expensive than a comparable Danley Genesis or Jericho Horn. Second, the fact that the Danley boxes are true point-source devices make them a lot cleaner. For example, the Genesis Horn has noticeably greater intelligibility than comparable line arrays out there.”
The Packers’ fans, administration, and even players have praised the new sound system. “The improvement is not at all subtle,” concludes Lucas. “Fans have gone out of their way to let the administration know that Lambeau’s sound reinforcement system is a significant improvement. That very positive feedback has made them feel comfortable with the investment they made.”
