Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL Miami Dolphins, now includes an upgraded sound system by Electro-Voice as part of a three-year, facility-wide renovation.
With the stadium’s addition of a roof and large video displays, crowd noise levels are substantially higher than the original open-air design, making even coverage critical, both in terms of SPL and frequency response. In addition to the primary task of improving the fan experience through better audio, the sound system is also used for mass notification of life safety information. The Dolphins selected Diversified Systems to design and integrate the system, charging them with the task of overcoming increased levels due to roof reflections while delivering both vocal intelligibility and musical fidelity.
The installation delivers concert-quality sound via 186 Electro-Voice XLCi-127DVX line array elements, weatherised and integrated into custom-engineered frames to withstand extreme storm and wind conditions. These are augmented by EVF-1122S front-loaded loudspeakers and EVH-1152D long-throw loudspeakers to cover hard-to-reach zones like corner seating areas. In addition, 48 dual 18in subwoofers, custom designed for the project, add a bass element that was absent in the stadium’s previous system.
An on-going installation challenge was the management of the installation across the renovation’s phased construction timeline, requiring on-going support of the legacy sound system while the new Electro-Voice system was being installed, tuned, tested, and deployed. To ensure even coverage throughout all seating areas, EASE modelling and intelligibility plots were critical tools in selecting the appropriate loudspeakers and their placement. Two Electro-Voice NetMax N8000 digital matrix controllers allowed the integration team to apply FIR filtering to optimise loudspeakers as needed and appropriate.
The sound system is also designed for mass notification of life safety information. Electro-Voice ceiling and surface-mount loudspeakers ensure smooth, continuous coverage in luxury suites, concourses, restrooms, offices, and all public areas throughout the stadium. This task required approximately 1,800 ZX1i indoor/outdoor loudspeakers and over 1,000 EVID ceiling-mounted designs selected from EV’s wide range of options.
