A comprehensive sound system upgrade completed recently at the 41,900-seat American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, makes heavy use of Powersoft’s Dante-compatible Quattrocanali DSP+D amplifiers. Home to baseball team the Milwaukee Brewers, who have played home matches here since 2001, it was formerly known as Miller Park and is also a major concert venue having hosted Pink, Ed Sheeran, Billy Joel and Kenny Chesney.
The Powersoft Quattrocanali 1204 DSP+D, 2404 DSP+D, 4804 DSP+D and 8804 DSP+D amplifiers used offer four channels at 1.2kW, 2.4kW, 4.8kW and 9.6kW respectively, and are an integral part of a loudspeaker, amplifier and control system upgrade overseen by Diversified.
Diversified’s brief to Senior Design Engineer for Sports & Live Events Jeff Dykhouse was to replace an ‘ageing, voice-focused’ sound system with a ‘modern, high-performance system offering high-resolution, full-range music and voice to every seat in the venue.’ Audio consultancy WJHW handled the design of the new PA.
Diversified specified 67 Quattrocanali amplifiers – two 1204 DSP+D, a single 2404 DSP+D, 24 4804 DSP+D and 40 8804 DSP+D models – to power speakers from Fulcrum Acoustic (FH, GX and CX series) and Community (R.15 and R.35), as well as a DiGiCo Quantum 225, all managed by a QSC Q-Sys DSP.
The Quattrocanalis are installed in three amplifier rooms, located near the stadium’s first base, home plate and third base seating zones. The amplifiers were set up using Powersoft’s ArmoníaPlus software and are controlled using the Powersoft plug-in for Q-Sys. Diversified also used ArmoníaPlus to configure and tune the entire seating bowl system.
According to Dykhouse, who served as the engineer of record for the project, Diversified chose Quattrocanali DSP+D amplifiers for their high power and digital connectivity – all Powersoft DSP+D models are able to receive audio-over-IP steams via Dante/AES67 – as well as their quick start-up in the event of power failure.
He also highlights the support offered by the Powersoft US team during the install, in particular that provided by Senior Sales Engineer Rick Woida, who helped the Diversified team configure the new system. ‘Rick Woida engaged Powersoft’s software team to make changes to the Q-Sys plug-in that were needed for the visual user interface deployed at the venue,’ he says. ‘We couldn’t be happier with how helpful they were.’
Woida, in turn, is full of praise for Diversified’s work in Milwaukee. ‘We are thrilled to have joined forces with Diversified on this transformative project, which showcased both companies’ dedication to audio excellence on a grand stage,’ he says. ‘Together with Diversified we hit all the right notes, and the result speaks for itself.’
‘The team at American Family Field and Powersoft were a joy to work with and we look forward to opportunities to work with them again,’ Dykhouse adds.
More: www.powersoft.com
