Whitinsville, MA, USA, November 17, 2009 – Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, recently enhanced its sound system with custom loudspeakers from EAW, a world leader in audio system solutions. The stadium opened its doors in 2003 and has since hosted a number of notable sporting events. Eagles fans are notoriously passionate, and an upgrade to its P.A. system was needed to effectively match and cut through their volume. A/V consulting firm Coffeen Fricke and Associates, Inc. developed a complex specification for the stadium’s system, and after considering several manufacturers, EAW was chosen, as they could provide that solution and manufacture the product to exacting specifications to meet the installation deadline. The sale was made by Columbia, Maryland-based Audio Associates, and the installation was handled by the Columbia-based
Large Projects Group of the A/V integration company AVI-SPL (headquartered in Tampa, Florida).
EAW’s Whitinsville, Massachusetts facility houses the EAW Strategic Engineering Group, which is itself charged with providing custom loudspeaker solutions for very precise installations, including Build-to-Order (BTO) projects. The stadium needed sound coverage of very specific sections of the venue with enclosures that would also deflect weather in a particular manner, so that fans would get great sound without getting wet. To suit these needs, the Strategic Engineering Group team created the new EAW PE83-WP and PE123-WP models especially for the stadium. Forty-five PE83’s and more than 700 PE123’s were installed in the venue for rich, powerful sound reinforcement.
The PE83 and PE123 cabinets are both designed as a columnar line source of 3″ woofer (8 or 12) in a custom cabinet adapted for horizontal mounting with a specified down-angle to the face. All wiring runs through the cabinets to adjoining ones, with 140-Volt transformers in each cabinet. The drivers use neodymium magnets for reduced weight and are inherently weatherproof. The Group took the PE Series concept from an existing EAW line-source speaker array, the type used commonly in houses of worship on columns to project sound without interfering with sight lines, and adapted it for horizontal mounting. The custom solution worked so brilliantly that a version of this design is under consideration to become a standard offering in the EAW product line.
“The custom loudspeakers developed and provided for the Eagles project have again exceeded our expectations in every aspect,� stated Pat McConnell, Sr. Projects Manager for AVI-SPL’s Large Projects Group. “The sleek cabinet design immediately pleased the client and blended seamlessly into the established architectural detail of the facility. The call to detail for mounting and performing hundreds of electrical connections was a significant plus for our contractor.�
Joe Blacker, President of Audio Associates, EAW’s Rep for the region who was intimately involved with the sale and installation, remarked, “Once again, EAW was called on to be the manufacturer of the large scale retrofit system needed for the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a pleasure working with AVI/SPL, and I was very pleased that EAW could undertake the gargantuan task of designing, building and implementing 740 custom loudspeakers in a matter of two months directly out of their Whitinsville factory.�
McConnell continued, “With over 700 custom loudspeakers fabricated and shipped in stages to coordinate with installation timelines, EAW consistently maintained communication to ensure our flow of work was never interrupted. Our Large Projects Group has completed many professional sporting venues utilizing EAW and always benefits from their total commitment to the project.�
For more information, please visit www.eaw.com.
