Sporting Arena

Will Fraser

Sporting Arena

Sporting venues traditionally have been simple systems using only a few inputs and multiple distributed outputs. Many new sporting venues are demanding more sophisticated routing and processing capabilities from their audio systems. In this example we are expanding the typical sporting venue design to include a large number of luxury suites. These suites will have local level and source select including a local audio input. With four times the DSP processing and the 256 channel digital audio bus, the new BLU-160 and BLU-120 are the perfect choice for this application.

The number of required wall controllers is a driving factor in this design. The number of suites determines the number of remotes which in turn determines the number of Soundweb London devices that are required. Up to six BLU-3s can be connected to a single Soundweb London device. In this design four BLU-120s are required for each group of twenty suites. The system is divided up and located in remote equipment rooms to minimize cable runs. These remotely located devices are connected to both an Ethernet network for control as well as the point to point connections of the BLU link for digital audio. These signals are transmitted across the BLU link back to the Broadcast Center for processing in the BLU-160. A large Source Matrix is used to allow each suite to select from a number of global sources as well as a local input from an entertainment system or iPod jack.

The main system covering the seating area is divided into 16 zones. The Graphical User Interface or GUI shows a layout of the venue seating area. The operator can access the controls for any zone by clicking on the seating map. This action changes the seating area blue to indicate it is the zone that is selected. This also opens the Sub Page displaying the controls for that zone. If the zone is muted, that area on the seating map will turn red to clearly indicate the zone status to the operator. This allows the operator to quickly identify the mute status of the entire seating area from the main screen. This is very useful for venues that may have different speaker usage based on the type of event they are running. Custom control panels can be divided into ‘layers’ using Sub Pages; allowing access to as little or as much information as the application requires.

In addition to the main system and the suites, there are a number of utility spaces that require audio. Each of these spaces; rest rooms, concourses and administration, have separate processing. This allows for independent source select, EQ, gain & delay controls for each zone.

Some of these utility spaces require paging. By using the Ducker processing object, a true override paging system has been designed that will automatically “duck” the program material (reducing it in level by a prescribed amount), so that announcements can be clearly heard above the level of the program material. Upon completion of the announcement, the program material is automatically restored to its previous level. Duckers used in this way allow clear paging, whether the source is a paging microphone or Telco (telephone) interface. With this configuration, paging would only be routed to the necessary zone.

>>>Click here to download the full application guide and sample file.<<<


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Technical Support Team
BSS Audio
8760 South Sandy Parkway
Sandy, UT 84070