‘I’m not a huge sports fan myself but I love the feeling I get watching a game on my big screen at home with good surround sound,’ says Kip Kendrick. ‘I knew that if we wanted to bring the fans downtown, we had to offer that same sense of immersion in the game – only better. We aimed for the best sports bar in the world.’

The setting is the Owner’s Box Sports Bar & Grill at the new Omni Dallas Hotel in in sports-centric Dallas. As the name implies, the concept here is to give fans a privileged seat and then pull them into the game – accomplished using 72 HDTV screens and surround sound systems using 40 Meyer Sound loudspeakers.

Walker Engineering provided design assistance and installation for the audio, video and lighting, with Kendrick, the company’s Business Development Manager for AVL, spearheading the design.

From the outset, Walker Engineering and its partners, general contractor Balfour Beatty Construction and developer Matthews Southwest, agreed that there would be no ‘value engineering’ that would compromise the experience. ‘We insisted on a stellar environment, and that meant top-line Panasonic video screens, Biamp audio processing and distribution, Crestron control and Meyer Sound loudspeakers,’ Kendrick says.

Meyer Sound systems are central to five premier viewing zones at The Owner’s Box, four of which use new low-voltage self-powered systems. The twin 7.1 bar systems each have a centre UP-4XP 48 V loudspeaker, six MM-4XP miniature loudspeakers and an MM-10 miniature subwoofer. The 7.2 system in the VIP suite uses the same components with an added MM-10, while the 5.1 system for the billiards room has two fewer of the MM-4XP loudspeakers.

‘When we looked at what we needed for both functional performance and interior design, Meyer’s low-voltage systems were a no-brainer,’ Kendrick explains. ‘The 48 V speaker line is absolutely brilliant for this kind of environment.’

For the big games – Cowboys, Mavericks, Super Bowl – fans flock to the front of the 16-foot screen, where they are in the zone of the 7.2 system powered by seven UPA-1P loudspeakers and dual USW-1P subwoofers. ‘They brought in a DJ to use that system for New Year’s,’ Kendrick recalls. ‘During the afternoon tests they had it up well over 115dB with pure clarity. We had bellhops coming from the front desk 200 yards away to see what was going on.’

Working with Kendrick as project manager was Jerry Roskin, Walker Engineering’s Senior Project Manager for low-voltage and network systems. Creston programming was handled by PanTech Design of Grapevine. Architect for The Owner’s Box was BOKA Powell and interior designer was waldrop+nichols studio.

Although AVL for The Owner’s Box was covered under a separate contract, Walker Engineering also was contracted for all electrical, security, networking and A/V systems throughout the hotel. The 1,001-room property, officially named the Dallas Convention Center Hotel, is owned by the City of Dallas and operated by Omni Hotels.

More: www.meyersound.com
More: www.biamp.com