Angel of the Winds Arena upgrades to JBL VTX A6

Angel Of The Winds Arena in Everett, Washington, recently upgraded its audio system, becoming the first arena with full deployment of JBL VTX A6 loudspeakers.

Opened in 2003, Angel of the Winds arena houses three venues that host sporting events, trade shows, music concerts, school functions, and various other programs. From its opening, the audio system in Angel Of The Winds Arena has been built around JBL Professional loudspeakers, but after 20 years, the original system was aging and no longer met the needs of the venue’s event schedule.

“We just didn't have enough,” stated Curtis Giboney, technical services & special projects manager at Angel of the Winds Arena. “It wasn't enough coverage, and the hockey team had to push the levels so much to fill the dead zones that it was ear-piercingly loud all the time.”

Morgan Sound was selected to upgrade the system. As well as the arena having used JBL loudspeakers for 20 years, Morgan Sound has relied on JBL for over 50 years, so upgrading to the latest VTX Series loudspeakers was reportedly an easy decision.

At the heart of the coverage issue was the design of the roof, which is higher along the venue’s spine than towards its sides, with the scoreboard hanging just near the lower roof level.

“The arena doesn't come down evenly, so not only is there a sight-line issue, but you just can't get energy from the scoreboard to the entire top of the arena,” revealed Morgan Sound senior AV consultant Stephen Weeks.

“It’s a typical arena, with a big scoreboard in the centre, but the scoreboard is in the upper area, and the arena is down below it. We modelled a system with VTX A8s (Dual 8-inch Compact Line Array Loudspeaker with 110º Dispersion) but couldn’t get the needed coverage. We went through a few different revisions and ended up with the VTX A6 (Sub-compact Dual 6.5-Inch Line Array Element) because we needed a more distributed approach to coverage,” Weeks continued.

The resulting design used more arrays than would normally be deployed in an arena context, with the arrays hung in a sharply curved configuration.

“Instead of hanging four arrays in the centre of the room, or six arrays in the center of the room in stereo, we ended up with 14 arrays ringing the entire arena. If we had done that with A8s, the number of amplifiers would be double because the A8 is bi-amped, plus with A6s we could hit the 105 dB SPL the client needed for large events, while keeping the footprint, and therefore, the visual distraction, smaller,” explained Weeks.

“Ten of the arrays have 12 boxes, and it's a pretty steep banana (curvature) at the bottom of the array. The bottom box of the array points at the lowest seat, which sits right up by the dasher, and then the array curve ramps straight up and shoots all the way to the top of the arena. There's a smaller seating section at the east end where they don't have nearly as many bleachers, and we do two smaller seven-box arrays there.”

Weeks ended up with the system modelled in JBL’s Venue Synthesis software, which reportedly brought multiple benefits.

“We were able to take the model and manipulate it as we needed, but we also used an export from Venue Synthesis to do virtual 3D walkthroughs with the client so they could see what the coverage was going to be. More importantly, leadership at the arena wanted to see what the sight line issues would be, especially with the LED scoreboard and all that happens there.”

“Then our production team went out and flew an A6 array on a motor, as it would be installed, so that we could demonstrate proof of concept and the entire leadership team of the arena could come out and approve it before we proceeded with the project.”

Two more arrays of seven VTX A6 cabinets each were hung a quarter of the way into the arena, pointing straight down at the floor to make sure the players in hockey games could hear announcements and, of course, the music to pump them up. Other events, like trade shows, also use those arrays to cover the arena floor with announcements and music.

“Morgan Sound divided the arrays up into upper bowl, lower bowl, ice fills, and so on, so we can turn off different zones, which is a capability we never had before, when it was all or nothing. We're wide open for hockey (all zones active), but for graduations, we'll turn off everything behind the stage,” Giboney detailed.

“When they do graduations in the space, they can use the down-firing speaker system as a basic speech PA when they're seated on the floor. They can turn off the upper clusters and avoid energising a reverberant space,” added Weeks.

Ticketing areas and entrances are covered by six AWC82 All-Weather Compact 2-Way Coaxial Loudspeakers that can play prerecorded music to attendees who might be waiting in cold, rainy weather before doors open. Concourses use previously installed JBL Control Series components, which Morgan Sound reorganised for cleaner networked operation.

As is said to be the case with installations into busy venues, Morgan Sound had to work whenever the venue wasn’t, meaning they had to show up prepared to make things happen quickly. “We pre-built all the arrays here at the shop, bolted them onto pallets, and shipped them to the venue. They came off their pallets and the riggers hooked them up and flew them straight into the air,” said Weeks.

Even with predictions from Venue Synthesis, it is impossible to know for certain how well a system meets expectations until it is actually installed and put into use, so the success of using VTX A6 as the main loudspeaker hung in the balance until that time.

“It sounds great!” Weeks enthused. “The venue’s clients have nothing but good things to say. The hockey team in residence, the Everett Silvertips, is ecstatic.”

Morgan Sound owner Charlie Morgan is reflective about a job in which he once again had the opportunity to serve a long-standing client with speakers from JBL, a supplier he’s worked with as long as he’s been in business. "I'm pleased we had an opportunity to reap the fruits of our labors while utilising our industry relationships built over the past five decades,” he mused. “This project allowed us to shine a light on the depth of our capabilities."

Angel of the Winds arena was one more in a lengthy string of projects stretching over decades on which Morgan Sound has used JBL loudspeakers. “We have had a very long relationship with JBL. Some of our original concert boxes had serial numbers like 001. We've worked closely with the design teams down at JBL for a very long time and have good relationships with them. But even after all these years, when we upgraded to the VTX loudspeakers, it was just a huge jump forward in the technology and what it can do.”

Giboney gave Morgan Sound a lot of credit for the success of the system upgrade. “It was a very, very smooth installation. Morgan Sound reutilised a lot of the wiring that was already in place, which saved us money,” he commented, appreciatively. “All the crew members from Morgan Sound are just very knowledgeable; I can't speak any more highly of them. I’m so very, very glad I got to choose them for this project.”