The Angel Of The Winds Arena performs the first complete JBL VTX A6 deployment

This versatile venue has overcome coverage problems with the incorporation of multiple arrays based on JBL Professional. VTX A6 equipment has been used in the installation, as well as the AWC82 two-way coaxial speakers and series components Control.

The company Morgan Sound, has opted for the series of VTX speakers from JBL Professional to update your outdated sound infrastructure Angel Of The Winds Arena.

The Snohomish people have inhabited the Port Gardner Peninsula for thousands of years, but the city of Everett (Washington) was not founded there until 1893. Although many of their 110.000 residents commute daily 40 kilometers to Seattle, Everett itself is a thriving community that opened a small airport in 2019 and houses a large Boeing manufacturing plant, as well as the Angel of the Winds Arena with capacity for 10.000 personas.

Inaugurated in 2003, This establishment houses three venues for sporting events (especially hockey games), trade fairs, music concerts, school functions and a variety of other programs. Since its inauguration, The Angel Of The Winds Arena audio system is built with JBL Professional speakers, but after 20 years, the original system was old and obsolete, no longer met the needs of the venue's events program.

“We just didn't have enough.”, states Curtis Giboney, Angel of the Winds Arena Technical Services and Special Projects Manager. “There was not enough coverage and the hockey team had to increase the levels so much to fill the dead zones that the volume was deafening all the time”.

This is why an update was thought of to respond to these problems.. Morgan Sound was selected to do the job and opted to upgrade to the latest JBL Professional VTX series speakers..

The coverage problem was due to the roof design, which is higher along the spine of the enclosure than towards the sides, and the scoreboard hangs just near the lower level of the ceiling.

“The stadium does not descend evenly, so there is not only a line of sight problem, but you simply cannot get the energy from the scoreboard to the entire upper part of the stadium. It's a typical stadium, with a large marker in the center, but this one is in the upper area and the stadium is below it. We model a system with VTX A8 (Dual Compact Linear Array Loudspeaker 8 inches with 110º dispersion), but we couldn't get the necessary coverage. We went through several different revisions and ended up with the VTX A6 (subcompact double linear array element 6,5 inches) because we needed a more distributed approach to coverage”, reveals Stephen Weeks, Morgan Sound senior AV consultant.

The resulting design used more arrangements than would normally be implemented in a stadium context., with systems hung in a steep curve configuration.

“Instead of hanging four arrangements in the center of the room, or six arrangements in the center of the room in stereo, we end with 14 arrangements that surrounded the entire stadium. If we had done that with the A8s, the number of amplifiers would be double because the A8 is bi-amplified, besides, with the A6 we could reach the 105 dB SPL that the client needed for large events, while we held space, and therefore, visual distraction, smaller”, Weeks adds..

“Ten of the arrangements have 12 boxes, and it is a fairly pronounced curvature at the bottom of the arrangement. The bottom box of the arrangement points to the lowest seat, which is located right next to the dasher, and then the array curve rises straight up and shoots up to the top of the stadium. There is a smaller seating section at the east end, where they don't have so many steps, and there we make two smaller sets of seven boxes.”.

Weeks ended up with the system modeled on the software Venue Synthesis the JBL, which brought multiple benefits.

“We were able to take the model and manipulate it as we needed, but we also used a Venue Synthesis export to do 3D virtual tours with the client so they could see what the coverage would be like. More importantly, stadium management wanted to see what the line of sight problems would be, especially with the Led scoreboard and everything that happens there. Then, our production team went out and flew an A6 set on an engine, as it would be installed, so we could demonstrate proof of concept and the entire stadium management team could come and approve it before continuing with the project.”.

Two more sets of seven gabinetes VTX A6 each one has hung a quarter of the way from the stadium entrance, pointing directly at the floor to make sure the players at the hockey games could hear the announcements and, of course, music to cheer them up. Other events, like trade fairs, They also use those outfits to cover the stadium floor with advertisements and music.

“Morgan Sound divided the sets in the upper area, the lower area, ice fillings, etc., so we can turn off different zones, which is an ability we never had before, when it was all or nothing. We are completely open for hockey (all active zones), “But for graduations we will turn off everything behind the stage.”, details Giboney. “When they make graduations in space, can use the down-firing speaker system as a basic sound system when sitting on the floor. “They can turn off overhead groups and avoid energizing a reverberant space.”, Weeks aggregate.

Ticket sales areas and entrances are covered by six AWC82 compact all-weather two-way coaxial speakers that can play pre-recorded music for attendees who might be waiting in cold, rainy weather before the doors open. The vestibules use components from the series JBL Control previously installed, which Morgan Sound reorganized for cleaner networking.

Angel Of The Winds Arena was one in a long series of projects spanning decades in which Morgan Sound has used JBL loudspeakers.. “We have had a very long relationship with JBL. Some of our original gig boxes had serial numbers like 001. We have worked closely with their design teams for a long time and have good working relationships with them. But even after all these years, “When we upgraded to the VTX speakers it was a huge leap forward in the technology and what it can do.”.