Williams-Brice Stadium at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, which has developed a reputation for being one of the most rowdy and energetic environments in NCAA football, has been equipped with a new sound reinforcement system headed by L-Acoustics A15i loudspeakers and supporting components in a design by Idibri of Dallas (a Salas O’Brien company) installed by St. Louis-based Cignal Systems (a Logic Systems company).
The stadium was originally built in 1934 and has seen regular renovations and expansions over the years that have taken it from a capacity of 17,600 when it opened to just shy of 80,000 today. The venue’s evolving layout and geometry, with a large balcony that’s unusual for a college football stadium, made it a candidate for a distributed-type design versus a point-source system located at one end of the stadium.
In fact, it’s the first American football stadium to incorporate A15i loudspeakers in a distributed design configuration. As a result, says Chip Self, wwner and CEO of Cignal Systems, the PA has hundreds of loudspeakers throughout the bowl seating.
“There are 14 different and distinct types of arrays throughout the stadium now, ranging from a single box to six or seven boxes each,” he says of the system that comprises 318 loudspeakers, including 67 A15i Focus and 139 A15i Wide, with 75 X12 and 37 X8 coaxials, all powered by a combination of 53 LA4X and 29 LA2Xi amplified controllers. “It’s a complex system,” designed by Idibri’s Casey Sherred and Ben Cating, “but it sounds incredible, and it covers every seat in the venue evenly and consistently.”
Sherred, senior consultant, Acoustics & Technology at Idibri, agrees that exceptional coverage was a key goal. “A distributed system would give them the coverage they wanted but also let us tailor the system for different parts of the venue to enhance the fan experience, such as making it louder in the student sections and less so in the suites,” he explains. “We were able to meet those requirements and more with A Series.”
He also notes that the A15i offers a low-frequency extension to 40 Hz, helping to eliminate the need for subwoofers. “Additional low frequency optimization is achieved by applying full range AutoFilter,” he adds. “This is enabled by the seamless integration of the Soundvision model with Network Manager. Filter settings are automatically imported into the amplified controllers, which was a huge labor and time saver. The full ecosystem approach made the design and deployment easier and faster.”
Mounting the loudspeakers proved to be the most significant challenge in the project. Many of the main array loudspeakers necessary to cover the lower bowl needed to be attached to the underside of the balcony protrusion, which is made of poured concrete. That type of construction includes inconsistencies in the material’s texture due to anomalies such as air pockets in the concrete. The location of these loudspeakers was compelled by sightline concerns, yet their placement also had to address aiming and coverage issues for the sound.
It required a new installation approach. Cignal Systems’ integrators first linked the machined-aluminum plates connecting the loudspeakers, then attached the main mounts using carefully placed and spaced anchors into the concrete, making sure the distance between anchors was sufficient to avoid stressing the concrete in any one spot. According to Self, the A15i was the only looudspeaker that could have worked in this completely custom-installation design.
“A combination of the A15i’s power and light weight, plus the variety of available patterns and waveguides for each box type, provided the flexibility that this project demanded,” says Self. “It let us hang the boxes as much as a foot, and a half higher than normal, which made sure we were able to meet the requirement not to interfere with sight lines, and the installation version of the A15 meant we didn’t need to buy a lot of expensive additional rigging. We couldn’t have done this project nearly this well without the A15i.”
