A full overhaul of the sound systems at the at 44,500-capacity Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, has seen an extensive installation of equipment from Fulcrum Acoustic, L-Acoustics, Q-Sys and Powersoft by system designer Idibri.
Home to the Boston College Eagles American Football team, the venue issued a an Request for Propsal that elicited an outline from Idibri to install new audio systems around the stadium, from the bowl itself to the concourses, suites, broadcast booths and press rooms.
‘We were tasked with upgrading several generations of technology all at once,’ explains Idibri Senior Consultant, Ben Boeshans. ‘We started designing the project in the first months of the Covid-19 lockdown, meeting regularly with Boston College representatives online and dealing with all of the supply chain issues as the project progressed.’
Boston College tasked Idibri with delivering a system that could provide clean, intelligible audio throughout the venue, as well as limiting the amount of sound that would spill outside. After considering the options, Idibri chose Powersoft amplifier platforms to meet the brief and serve the variety of speakers used in the design.
‘We needed 98 Quattrocanali in total, which were installed in seven locations around the facility,’ says Idibri Associate VP, Ryan Knox. ‘The primary signal is via Dante from Q-Sys, with an analogue backup, while all of the control is taken care of by a number of DiGiCo consoles.’
Idibri selected weatherised Fulcrum Acoustic FL283, FH15 series, CCX series and RX series loudspeakers to serve as the PA system in the stadium bowl, and L-Acoustics Syva with KS21 subwoofers the field system. All of the suites, press rooms, broadcast areas and concourses are equipped with QSC AD series loudspeakers, with six redundant pairs of Q-Sys cores of various sizes for signal processing.
‘Given the supply chain challenges the industry is facing right now, we knew that we would encounter some hurdles,’ says Boeshans. ‘We worked closely with Powersoft and the project’s integrator, Diversified, to ensure that the specified products could arrive in time for the project, and we were even able to swap in more Powersoft amps when others couldn’t make the timeline.’
The audio team made extensive use of the third-party Q-Sys plug-in within the Powersoft amplifier platforms to control power status, implement backup, and engage in real-time system monitoring alongside Powersoft’s HealthPlus software.
‘Rick Woida from Powersoft provided some really useful guidance for us on programming the A+ file, as well as hanging out on site with us during commissioning and the first game,’ adds Knox. ‘He also assisted in creating custom speaker presets for speakers that weren’t previously in the library and used A+ [ArmoníaPlus]’s error reporting to help us track down a few wiring issues.’
‘Overall, we are impressed with the service and products Powersoft was able to provide, particularly when you consider the supply chain issues that they managed to overcome for us,’ reports Boston College audio engineer, Adam Ferguson. ‘They are a great manufacturing partner for this kind of project.’
More: www.idibri.com
