Pro Audio Review - June 2008 - (Page 40) CONTRACTING | Installation Profile Cover Story: A New Prudential Center for Newark he Prudential Center in Newark was formally unveiled last Fall as the Tri-State’s first major entertainment venue to be opened in 25 years. The new sports and multi-function entertainment venue, which cost a reported $600 million and provides seating for more than 20,000 patrons, serves as a new home for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and the Seton Hall Pirates basketball team, as well as hosting MISL indoor soccer, concerts, family shows and other special events. The venue is managed by AEG Live and showcases 76 luxury suites, 2,200 club seats and an array of amenities. Overall design of the sound and video systems, scoreboard and acoustics treatment for the Prudential Center was the responsibility of Dallas- and San Antonio-based Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams/WJHW, Inc. under the direction of Project Consultant Kevin Day. Primary audio contactor on the project was Diversified Systems, with Andy Prager serving as Senior Project Engineer. A GRAND OPENING The new venue opened officially in lateOctober with a 10-night concert series headlined by hometown favorites Bon Jovi, plus guests My Chemical Romance, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, All-American Rejects and Chris Daughtry. The opening-week concert series attracted more than 150,000 fans. “It was a double honor to be part of the opening of the Prudential Center,” Chris Daughtry conceded, “and to perform with New Jersey’s very own Bon Jovi.” On October 27, the New Jersey Devils played their first hockey game at the arena against the Ottawa Senators. “We worked closely from Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams’ intricate By Mel Lambert with a quoted 150 Hz to 16 kHz frequency range and maximum SPL capability of 139 dB continuous, 145 peak. The PD764 is physically and electronically the same as the PD743 but with a 60x40-degree coverage pattern. The PD7164 mid/low-frequency cabinet incorporate six, 14-inch drivers, while the ASB6128 Applied Engineering high-power subwoofers feature two 18-inch 2242H SVG drivers with four-inch voice coils that offer a quoted frequency range (-10 dB) of 28 Hz to 1 kHz and 35 Hz to 1 kHz, ±3 dB, plus an AES transducer power rating of 2.4 kW (9.6 kW, peak) for two hours. To augment the main scoreboard clusters, WJHW specified a total of three discrete delay rings. “The first ring is suspended off the bottom of the catwalk,” Prager offers, “and consists of a total of 24 Model PD5212/64 twoway full-range cabinets. The second ring com- designs,” Diversified Systems’ Prager recalls. “WJHW routinely handles the design of large stadiums and knows this type of indoor environment very well, from both an audio and a video standpoint. The comprehensive design was predicated on WJHW’s extensive experience; they can create systems that are known to work in spaces like the Prudential Center. In essence, the new sound system is primarily designed for speech: commentaries and announcements during the various hockey, basketball and soccer games played at the arena. But it is also designed to accommodate sound reinforcement systems that might be brought in by visiting musical acts.” JBL PD SERIES FOR MAIN SOUND SYSTEM The primary sound system at the Prudential Center comprises four virtually identical clusters that are mounted just above and outside the footprint of the center-hung video/scoring display, and whose cabinets can be controlled individually via a cross point matrix/routing system and amplifier racks. The East and West clusters comprise 10 JBL Precision Directivity (PD) Series PD743 Mid/High-Frequency cabinets with a 40x30degree dispersion pattern; four PD7164 LF Cabinets; and six ASB6128 Subwoofers mounted above. “The North and South clusters are identical to these,” Prager says, “aside from [featuring] eight rather than 10 PD743 cabinets, plus an additional pair of down-firing PD764 60x-by-40 cabinets.” The PD743 Precision Directivity Mid/High Frequency Coaxial cabinet houses a pair of large-format 2430H HF drivers with IFS Interference Free Summation, dual 2250J eight-inch MF drivers; dispersion is said to be well controlled to below 400 Hz, Audio Engineer Tim Wick at Yamaha M7CL48 Digital Produc prises 27 Community CLOUD Model 12-66 two-way, full-range coaxial loudspeakers flush-mounted in the upper-deck ceiling tiles, while the third ring comprises 36 Model 1266T speakers for the main concession areas on a 70-volt line.” The first ring is delayed between 80 and 100 mS against the main cluster, the second ring 122 mS and the third ring 84 mS. The PD5212/64 cabinet features a horn-loaded 12-inch M222-8A LF driver with a 60x40-degree coverage pattern, plus a largeformat 2451H-1 Neodymium HF driver; quoted frequency range is 80 Hz to 18 kHz. The CLOUD 12-66 features a single 12-inch cast- 40 | ProAudio Review | June 2008 Subscribe to the Digital Edition of Pro Audio Review http://www.myparmag.com www.proaudioreview.com http://www.proaudioreview.com http://www.myparmag.com
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