Dignity Health Sports Park (DHSP) in Los Angeles, the home of the LA Galaxy Major League Soccer franchise, recently partnered with 3G Productions (based in Las Vegas) on the design and installation of a new sound reinforcement system headed by L-Acoustics Kiva II loudspeakers and SB18i subwoofers.
“The previous sound system, installed during the stadium’s construction, was no longer adequately meeting their needs,” explains 3G Productions COO Keith Conrad. “It was beyond its age and had reliability concerns. Plus, it did not extend enough sound coverage in the stands or to the concourse, which limited the fan experience throughout the venue.”
3G Productions director of AVL integration David Myers collaborated on a Soundvision system design with L-Acoustics sports facilities business development manager Dan Palmer on the bowl sound system primarily comprised of 142 Kiva II line source enclosures — divided across 18 arrays in eight zones — paired with 14 hangs of 28 SB18i subs and collectively driven by 13 LA12X and four LA4X amplified controllers. Additionally, 10 compact, short-throw 5XT speakers cover a press area in the West zone, while two co-linear Syva enclosures are mounted to the left and right sides of a large LED wall at the stadium’s main entrance.
“Using the same loudspeaker solution throughout the bowl, we created a system that is scalable to accommodate each of the unique listener areas while maintaining the same tonal voicing and acoustic characteristics. This also maximized horizontal dispersion control,” Myers says, “Also, Kiva II is very visually unobtrusive, allowing clear views to the field and preserving the architectural look of the park. And we flew SB18i subs to reinforce the main system and extend the frequency bandwidth and low-end energy as needed for the more sonically demanding shows and games.”
Conrad notes that the new loudspeaker system — which was ultimately commissioned in February, just prior to the LA Galaxy’s season opener in early March — is a major improvement from the old one. “The L-Acoustics system significantly enhances the energy inside the stadium, while also preserving the integrity and nuances of a soccer match by keeping the sound off the field,” he says. “The audio system throughout the concourse enhances the fan experience by allowing people to continue to follow the action even if they have to leave their seats. Speech intelligibility is notably improved and the surrounding neighbors are delighted with the minimized noise emanating from the stadium during games.”
Adam Duvendeck, AEG VP of operations for Dignity Health Sports Park, concludes,”Faced with an outdated system, our search was focused on finding a product that allowed us to deliver an outstanding fan experience while focusing the audio within the stadium, and not to our neighbors. 3G and L-Acoustics were not only able to furnish a concert-quality system with superior intelligibility but also do so on time and on budget.”
