The Varsity Ice House sports bar in Grand Forks, ND, often packed with people cheering on the University of North Dakota’s nationally-ranked hockey team, is equipped with a sound reinforcement system with all loudspeakers driven by LEA Professional Dante Connect Series power amplifiers.
Varsity Ice House reached out to Paul Hagen at Fargo-based Site on Sound to specify a personalized system that fit the needs of bar staff and guests. “I use LEA amps almost exclusively,” says Hagen. “The LEA Cloud allows me to log into the system and make changes when I’m not onsite and lets me keep an eye on my customers. LEA integrates well with everything else, so using them was a no-brainer.”
Hagen installed a CS1504D four-channel amplifier with stated 1,500 watts per channel to power the bar’s main loudspeakers, and a CS704D four-channel model with stated 700 watts per channel to run a few fill areas inside the bar as well as to power the outdoor area. Hagen also utilized the LEA Cloud platform to remote control and monitor from afar, improving response times and the overall quality of service for Varsity Ice House.
The system is sectioned into two zones on the control system running eight zones of loudspeakers. Also, with three ways to connect, the Dante Connect Series allows integrators the ability to engage the built-in Wi-Fi access point, connect to the venue’s Wi-Fi, or use an existing local area network via Cat-5/6 cable.
“The Dante Connect amplifiers simplified everything,” adds Hagen. “With the Dante amps and the Dante encoders, the only other hardware I had in the whole place was the jukebox. It made programming and installation easier.”
