Alumni Stadium, home to the Boston College Eagles football team, has installed a new EAW sound reinforcement system.
Boston College’s athletic department called upon Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) to design a new upper deck sound reinforcement system that would “weather the weather” and upgrade the rest of the stadium system at the same time. All Pro Sound, headquartered in Pensacola, Florida installed the system.
“We decided to utilise a custom steerable column array loudspeaker solution from EAW,” explained Kevin Day, WJHW. “We looked at active arrays but given the weather, thought a passive solution would be a better fit. We had worked with Kenton Forsythe at EAW to create a passive steerable column array loudspeaker for another installation that we knew would be ideal for this situation and it has been.”
A total of 14 weatherised column array loudspeakers each consisting of one LF and one HF multi-channel loudspeaker module were installed on poles to cover the north and south end zones and west upper deck seating areas. All Pro Sound installed custom hardware for mounting the main loudspeakers to cover the upper seating areas.
“The new column loudspeakers provide higher quality sound and more even coverage of the seating area while minimising spillage to nearby neighbourhoods during games,” added John Fuqua, All Pro Sound’s vice president. “The steerable capability of the arrays allow the sound to be aimed to cover the desired seating without compromising adjacent areas.”
Because the upper deck seating on the east side of the stadium did not require a pole mount loudspeaker solution, All Pro Sound refitted new, custom mounts to the superstructure and installed five EAW QX364-WP to cover that area. During the renovation the lower deck loudspeakers were also upgraded.
“The MK loudspeakers have always been a quality product and work well in conjunction with the column arrays in this application,” Fuqua explained. “EAW products are known for their ‘voicing’ or the characteristic to sound similar when used together in a given application. This is a great example of that working exceptionally well.”
