Meyer Sound News : Tampa Bay Stadium Scores With New Meyer Sound System

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Tampa Bay Stadium Scores With New Meyer Sound System

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will soon sail into an all-new home port, reaping the benefits of a $168 million, 65,000-seat facility designed by seasoned stadium consultant HOK Sport of Kansas City. This month an innovative Meyer Sound Self-Powered sound system will be installed in the new stadium, which is scheduled to open this fall for the 1998 NFL season.

This is the first U.S. installation of Meyer Sound's SB-1 (Sound Beam) and PSW-6 subwoofer. Both loudspeakers are the first working models of their kind in the audio industry. The parabolic dish-based SB-1 loudspeaker offers a uniquely effective alternative to horn-based speakers for large-scale long-throw applications. The Self-Powered PSW-6 is the first subwoofer to offer directional control over two full octaves.

"WJHW has done more than its fair share of sports facilities," said Gary White, who designed the Tampa system for Dallas-based sound consultants Wrightson Johnson Haddon and Williams, Inc. "I liked the idea of using a Meyer system in this one and I went after it. I knew the quality I'd get."

The stadium's sound will rock more than Buccaneer fans. In January, 2001, the venue will host Super Bowl XXXV, the first Super Bowl of the millennium. White calls the stadium project "ambitious and exciting, both for Meyer Sound and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers." The system will be installed by ProSound (formerly Professional Sound and Lighting) of Miami, Florida.

Conventional loudspeakers were originally specified for the stadium, but WJHW soon decided that a self-powered system was the superior solution. "ProSound asked me to consider using a Meyer self-powered system," White explained. "I wasn't familiar with it. My main concern was maintaining a powerful SPL, but Rod Sintow [of ProSound] assured me there wasn't a problem. He was right."

"Using the Sound Beam in combination with the MSL-6 is probably the best choice for a point-source design in a stadium," explained John Monitto, Meyer Sound's Technical Support Manager. "Paired with the narrow, tightly controlled 10-degree coverage of the SB-1, the 25-degree vertical coverage of the MSL-6 really keeps energy concentrated in the stands and out of the field and air."

"The cardioid coverage pattern of the PSW-6 steers the energy away from the back of the sub, making it a perfect choice for placement in tricky areas like in front of the back wall of a score board," said Monitto. "This meant we could place the subs coplanar with the MSL-6s. If you place a typical omnidirectional sub a few feet from a wall, you run the risk of getting narrow-band cancellation in the sub's frequency response."

The entirely Self-Powered system consists of eight MSL-6 loudspeakers, eight PSW-6 Cardioid subwoofers, and four SB-1 Parabolic loudspeakers. Two MSL-4 loudspeakers and three CQ-2 loudspeakers provide side and down fill coverage.

November, 2000

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