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Meyer Sound Powers "Hurricane Season" at the Orange Bowl
Each year, thousands of Miamians eagerly await the opening of "Hurricane season." No, not the high-risk months for destructive storms – rather, they anticipate a Saturday in September when the University of Miami Hurricanes play their first home game of the football season. The 2001 "Hurricane season" has been particularly rewarding, with the team (as of this writing) undefeated and sitting atop the national rankings. In addition, fans and players alike are enjoying a new Meyer Sound main cluster sitting atop the new Orange Bowl scoreboard. "I honestly couldn't say the new Meyer system helped improve our home field advantage," confesses assistant athletic director for facilities Stephen Nebrat. "But it has helped create a friendlier environment for our fans, and it is giving them a higher quality experience of the game." City Stadium, University Scoreboard The new Meyer system is the latest in a long series of upgrades and expansions at the 68-year-old Florida stadium, site of the Orange Bowl games from 1938 to 1996. After the Miami Dolphins (and the namesake bowl game) left for Miami's newer Pro Player stadium, the Hurricanes became the primary football tenants of the 74,000 capacity venue. As part of a long-term contract, the City of Miami–the Orange Bowl's owner–turned over ownership of the scoreboard to the University. Alas, at the end of the 2000 season, the old scoreboard and accompanying 14-year-old sound system were not performing at the level of the Hurricanes. Major improvements were in order. "We got some bids for fixing the old scoreboard," says Nebrat, "and they ran well into six figures. And since the old sound system was also unsatisfactory, we decided, rather late in the game, to go for a whole new scoreboard and main cluster." The audio end of the project was contracted to Pro Sound of Miami, with R.J. Coleman serving as principal system design engineer. "It was a difficult job on all fronts," says Coleman. "We had a huge stadium to cover with higher intelligibility and better music quality, but with significantly less sound hitting the field. It was a collegiate budget, not an NFL budget. And it had to be a fast-track install, because the new scoreboard steelwork wouldn't be up until a few days before the opening game." The Sound Beam Solution With all these considerations in mind, Coleman strongly recommended a self-powered Meyer Sound point-source cluster, a design similar to systems installed earlier by Pro Sound at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay and Ohio State's Buckeye Stadium. All three incorporate Meyer Sound's patented SB-1 Parabolic Long-Throw Sound Beams. These ultra long-throw parabolic transducers proved to be the crucial ingredient in devising a system able to cover the far side of a stadium without flooding the field with sound. "With the three Sound Beams at the Orange Bowl we're covering the far seats at about 685 feet," says R.J. Coleman. "The ten degree pattern fits perfectly. If you look at the 6 dB down point, it's at the top of the bleachers, and at the bottom we're just past the edge of the field. The conventional horns in the old system simply couldn't do that. They were getting too much over the top, and feedback in the referees' microphones." Coverage for the rest of the Orange Bowl is provided by four MSL-6 Horn-Loaded High-Q Main Loudspeakers, with two each on either end of the over-scoreboard structure, the outer one rotated sixty degrees and the inner one rotated thirty degrees. The three SB-1s in the middle are split, with two on one side of the center line and the third on the other, separated by a tight pack of four DS-4P Horn-Loaded Mid-Bass Loudspeakers for directional mid-bass reinforcement. "We would have put all three Sound Beams in the center," notes Coleman, "but the prefabricated enclosure holding the system was built in two sections, with a six-inch seam of steel at dead center. That would have interrupted the center unit's beam, so we moved it off to the side a few feet." September Crunch The first week in September was crunch time. "We didn't have steel up until the Monday before the first game," recalls Coleman, "so we had everything fabricated that final week. Fortunately, because everything was self-powered, all we had to run for wiring was a single audio pair coming up from the booth, the RMS wires and a couple spares." The power was turned on Thursday afternoon, and on Friday Pro Sound SIM System II specialist Kelly Prince came in for system tuning – a process which proceeded until three in the morning. But the system was up and running flawlessly for the home opener on September 8. "It was a frighteningly fast-track job," says Coleman, "but in the end it blew the old system away. In particular, the Meyer system has proven very successful in minimizing any mid- or high-frequency bleed onto the field." The University's Stephen Nebrat concurs. "In years before, the players were having a hard time hearing on the field with the system blaring in their ears. I've heard from the coaches that they're not having the same problems this year." In addition, Nebrat praises the improved intelligibility in the stands and the higher quality of music playback. "Overall, we are more than happy with the system. Of course you expect a newer system to be better, but still it exceeded our expectations. We had a tenor come in to sing the national anthem, and the sound was absolutely wonderful." Install Meyer, Get More Ad Space Great sound is always appreciated. But early on in the design stage, the University of Miami also discovered how a compact, self-powered Meyer system can help pay for itself. "The City of Miami has hurricane building codes that limit the footprint size for the overall scoreboard structure," notes Nebrat. "But the new Meyer system took up only about half the space of the old system. That meant we could expand the size of the advertising space on the scoreboard to generate extra revenue for the athletic program."
MSL-6
R.J. Coleman "I honestly couldn't say the new Meyer system helped improve our home field advantage," confesses assistant athletic director for facilities Stephen Nebrat. "But it has helped create a friendlier environment for our fans, and it is giving them a higher quality experience of the game." City Stadium, University Scoreboard The new Meyer system is the latest in a long series of upgrades and expansions at the 68-year-old Florida stadium, site of the Orange Bowl games from 1938 to 1996. After the Miami Dolphins (and the namesake bowl game) left for Miami's newer Pro Player stadium, the Hurricanes became the primary football tenants of the 74,000 capacity venue. As part of a long-term contract, the City of Miami–the Orange Bowl's owner–turned over ownership of the scoreboard to the University. Alas, at the end of the 2000 season, the old scoreboard and accompanying 14-year-old sound system were not performing at the level of the Hurricanes. Major improvements were in order. "We got some bids for fixing the old scoreboard," says Nebrat, "and they ran well into six figures. And since the old sound system was also unsatisfactory, we decided, rather late in the game, to go for a whole new scoreboard and main cluster." The audio end of the project was contracted to Pro Sound of Miami, with R.J. Coleman serving as principal system design engineer. "It was a difficult job on all fronts," says Coleman. "We had a huge stadium to cover with higher intelligibility and better music quality, but with significantly less sound hitting the field. It was a collegiate budget, not an NFL budget. And it had to be a fast-track install, because the new scoreboard steelwork wouldn't be up until a few days before the opening game." The Sound Beam Solution With all these considerations in mind, Coleman strongly recommended a self-powered Meyer Sound point-source cluster, a design similar to systems installed earlier by Pro Sound at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay and Ohio State's Buckeye Stadium. All three incorporate Meyer Sound's patented SB-1 Parabolic Long-Throw Sound Beams. These ultra long-throw parabolic transducers proved to be the crucial ingredient in devising a system able to cover the far side of a stadium without flooding the field with sound. "With the three Sound Beams at the Orange Bowl we're covering the far seats at about 685 feet," says R.J. Coleman. "The ten degree pattern fits perfectly. If you look at the 6 dB down point, it's at the top of the bleachers, and at the bottom we're just past the edge of the field. The conventional horns in the old system simply couldn't do that. They were getting too much over the top, and feedback in the referees' microphones." Coverage for the rest of the Orange Bowl is provided by four MSL-6 Horn-Loaded High-Q Main Loudspeakers, with two each on either end of the over-scoreboard structure, the outer one rotated sixty degrees and the inner one rotated thirty degrees. The three SB-1s in the middle are split, with two on one side of the center line and the third on the other, separated by a tight pack of four DS-4P Horn-Loaded Mid-Bass Loudspeakers for directional mid-bass reinforcement. "We would have put all three Sound Beams in the center," notes Coleman, "but the prefabricated enclosure holding the system was built in two sections, with a six-inch seam of steel at dead center. That would have interrupted the center unit's beam, so we moved it off to the side a few feet." September Crunch The first week in September was crunch time. "We didn't have steel up until the Monday before the first game," recalls Coleman, "so we had everything fabricated that final week. Fortunately, because everything was self-powered, all we had to run for wiring was a single audio pair coming up from the booth, the RMS wires and a couple spares." "It was a frighteningly fast-track job," says Coleman, "but in the end it blew the old system away. In particular, the Meyer system has proven very successful in minimizing any mid- or high-frequency bleed onto the field." The University's Stephen Nebrat concurs. "In years before, the players were having a hard time hearing on the field with the system blaring in their ears. I've heard from the coaches that they're not having the same problems this year." In addition, Nebrat praises the improved intelligibility in the stands and the higher quality of music playback. "Overall, we are more than happy with the system. Of course you expect a newer system to be better, but still it exceeded our expectations. We had a tenor come in to sing the national anthem, and the sound was absolutely wonderful." Install Meyer, Get More Ad Space Great sound is always appreciated. But early on in the design stage, the University of Miami also discovered how a compact, self-powered Meyer system can help pay for itself. "The City of Miami has hurricane building codes that limit the footprint size for the overall scoreboard structure," notes Nebrat. "But the new Meyer system took up only about half the space of the old system. That meant we could expand the size of the advertising space on the scoreboard to generate extra revenue for the athletic program." November, 2001 |
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