Bringing leading-edge sound usually only attributed to major-league NBA/NHL arenas, Hercules, Calif.–based Pro Media recently installed an expansive, high-fidelity JBL Professional sound system at Stockton Arena. Home to the California Cougars of Major League Soccer, Minor League Hockey’s Stockton Thunder and the Stockton Lighting of the Arena Football League, the 10,000-seat Stockton Arena hosted its first event (a Thunder hockey game) on December 10, 2005.
The sound system, designed by Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon and Williams (WJHW), is arranged in a distributed “exploded cluster” alignment, which places the speakers closer to the audience. Along the sideline, Pro Media hung five JBL AM4315/64 loudspeakers, with AM4315/95 speakers underhung, and mirrored his arrangement along the other sideline. Additionally, three JBL PD5322/64 loudspeakers were arrayed on each end zone, with one PD5322/95 underhung on each end.
Additionally, Pro Media installed 18 JBL Control 29 under-balcony speakers on each side. The corners of the arena contain seven JBL AM4212/00 speakers in each end zone for delay fill and three JBL 2385A horns with a 2446J compression driver for hockey fill behind the dasher-board glass around each goal. The entire system is powered by Crown CTS amplifiers, with BSS Soundweb 9088iiLL digital signal processing, a BSS Soundweb 9000ii network hub and a Soundcraft K1-24 mixing console.
“A lot of stadiums and arenas use a standard four-cluster configuration, but WJHW realized that a traditional design wouldn’t work due to the architectural limitations,” says Demetrius Palavos of Pro Media. “Because of the way the building’s roof was designed, we had to take a hybrid approach with a part-cluster, part-distributed system to maintain the audience’s sight line to the scoreboard and field of play.”
For more information, visit www.promediausa.com and www.jbl.com.
