With performances by Pharrell Williams and Soundgarden, the 2014 NFL Kickoff Event held outside of Seattle’s CenturyLink Field scored big with sonic capabilities delivered by New York-based Firehouse Productions, which supplied a main sound reinforcement system headed by Harman’s JBL Professional VTX line arrays and Crown Audio I-Tech HD amplifiers.
“This was a good, straightforward show for us because we knew we were only going to be dealing with just two performers,” notes Mark Dittmar, VP of design and engineering for Firehouse Productions.
Dittmar and his team were challenged with city restrictions on decibel levels, as well as the customary Seattle rain. The team relied on JBL VTX line arrays as well as several delay towers with JBL VerTec line arrays to manage the sound coverage within the outdoor space.
The main hang at the stage included left-right hangs of 14 JBL VTX V25 line array elements, while 12 VerTec VT4889 array modules deployed for side hangs on either side of the stage. Firehouse also utilized two clusters of six VT4889s for rear fill and 12 VT4889s for the delay towers. Low end was supplied by VTX G28 and VT4880A subwoofers.
All loudspeakers were powered by 90 Crown I-Tech 12000HD amplifiers, and the system was monitored and controlled with JBL’s HiQnet Performance Manager software.
“The VTX line arrays are very capable and deliver a ton of power,” says Dittmar. “I don’t have to hang as many to get the same SPL when compared to hanging other rigs. Additionally, the reduced weight adds to the flexibility of design, and makes my job a lot easier when trying to integrate the system in a challenging space. In addition, the quality of the sound, especially the high-end, is absolutely amazing.”
“We’ve been using Crown since the beginning,” he adds. “They give us so much power in such a small package. One of our favorite aspects about Crown is the ability to build a custom library of presets that enable us to control any speaker in our inventory with the proper power and optimize their EQ, delay and other parameters.”
Firehouse Productions
Harman Professional
JBL Professional
Crown Audio