Stanford University renews its sports centers with Meyer Sound

In the first phase, the Stanford Stadium facilities have been updated, el Avery Aquatic Center y el Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium. A total of 85 CAL column speakers provide power and intelligibility in these rooms.

The Stanford University, in California (EU), has completed the first phase of a major program to improve sound reinforcement systems in its sports facilities.

At the beginning of summer, the systems Meyer Sound, based on column speakers (CAL), They were installed at Stanford Stadium, with capacity for 50.000 personas, el Avery Aquatic Center y el Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium, playing field for the school softball team.

Stanford Stadium and the Avery Aquatic Center were designed and equipped by Diversified, a global technology solutions provider.

Meyer Sound Design Services collaborated with consulting firm WJHW during the design phase for all facilities, providing supervision and guidance in football stadium and aquatic center systems.

El Stanford Stadium, home of the Cardinal football team, was built in the years 20 like a gigantic venue with capacity for more than 89.000 spectators. In 2006 would be rebuilt as a two-story stadium to offer a closer fan experience.

The system installed after the reconstruction, based on conventional speakers, It became obsolete and had obvious acoustic limitations.

This year an update of the equipment was carried out and for its renewal, The design team decided to use the latest digital beamforming technology incorporated into Meyer Sound powered column speakers..

A total of 80 column speakers were installed in the stadium, using the three models of the series: CAL 96 (con 96 individually processed and amplified speakers), as well as the smaller CAL models 64 and CAL 32.

“Beam steering technology allows us to position a speaker in a way that without it optimal vertical placement would not be possible. Horizontally it needs to be placed in the right place, but in the vertical dimension beam steering can be used to successfully cover the seating plane in a way that would not be possible with other methods”, said Peter O'Neil, Diversified Engineering Director.

Coverage pattern control avoids problems often found in large stadium sound systems, explains Mark Graham, associate director of WJHW.

“A problem with distributed systems, when using long range speakers, the thing is, if you do not have vertical control of the Meyer column systems, you can have sound from one side of the stadium filtering to the other side. And if it's strong enough, will degrade the intelligibility of the spoken word. But with CALs and their narrow vertical pattern you can control exactly what areas each speaker will cover and prevent that problem.”.

Graham also notes that the slim profile of the column speakers allows for discreet coverage of problem areas on upper decks., between lighting structures.

“With conventional solutions in those areas you can have horrible problems.. But with these column systems, we simply add a small post, which is quite cheap and discreet from an architectural point of view, and you can direct the sound towards that area”.

Although they have a slim profile, column speakers offer great power. According to the Director of Business Development at Meyer Sound, John Monitto, “in addition to distributing the sound in a uniform and well-controlled manner, CALs also offer very high peak performance to deliver optimal intelligibility over crowd noise”.

Despite sophisticated digital technology, O'Neil is confident in the long-term reliability of the system. “It is a proven solution with a base of work in other outdoor stadiums, including Berkeley's Memorial Stadium, which has been in use for several years. Resists the elements and also resists soccer matches where all the power is needed”.

To cover seating areas where a column speaker solution was not appropriate, The Stanford Stadium system also incorporates 84 UPJunior speakers and ten UP-4XP.

Cerca del Avery Aquatic Center, two CAL speakers 96 and a CAL speaker 64 They are centered on the marker, providing a point source solution for grandstands with capacity for 2.480 spectators.

Fill systems comprise nine MM-4XP and two UPJ-1XP loudspeakers. For events, like synchronized swimming, requiring high fidelity music and full bandwidth, The system provides deep bass through three 750-LFC subwoofers deployed in a cardioid configuration.

Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium

For your part, en el Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium, with a scalable capacity of 1.500 a 3.500 personas, two CALs have been installed 64 along with four UPJunior-XP speakers.

“Another great advantage of a CAL solution is that it provides flexibility to handle spaces that are expandable in capacity.”, says Monitto. “If you need to redistribute the sound, another preset can simply be programmed to direct it toward a tighter or wider coverage pattern to suit the new seating configuration”.

Another factor favoring a comprehensive solution from Meyer Sound was the proven longevity of the product.. “Several of the outdoor facilities here had installed MSL-3 systems more than 25 years and still working well”, Monitto continues.

Future phases of the facility upgrade program will include new Meyer Sound systems for Laird Q Stadium. They shit on Maloney Field (soccer and lacrosse) y Klein Field and Sunken Diamond (baseball).