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Community and Durrell Help Cleveland Rock
Cleveland, Ohio: In some parts of the world the winter months are a time to put away the shorts, don a thin jacket, and drink a bit more coffee. Not so in Cleveland, where winter is more an experience than a season, and the entire city bundles up against an onslaught of snow, ice, and single digit wind chill factor as autumn fades. Despite (or maybe because of) the bitter cold of winter, Cleveland residents are as fond of their beloved Browns as any city can be of its NFL franchise, and any given Sunday finds tens of thousands of football fans packed into the Browns Stadium, swaddled in layers of sweaters, scarves, thick gloves, and furry hats.
While Clevelanders themselves are hardy enough to adapt to the city's extreme weather, pro audio gear is far less resilient, and by late last year the stadium's technical crew noted a clearly discernable drop in the output level and quality of the seven year old stadium's sound system. Justifiably concerned by the system's rapid deterioration, Vice President of Broadcasting and Production George Veras sought the professional advice of Nashville-based Durrell Acoustic Solutions. Durrell, a sports stadium audio
specialist whose resume includes the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the homes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, quickly determined that approximately 90% of the stadium's loudspeaker drivers showed signs of damage from the elements. They recommended a complete system overhaul, with a new audio setup based on Community Professional Loudspeakers' powerful and durable WET series.
"We chose the Community WET series as our primary loudspeaker system based on its proven ability to stand up to the extreme weather the Browns' Stadium experiences on the shore of Lake Erie," explained John Horrell, president of Durrell. "As Durrell was asked to warranty the new speakers for seven years, the WET series was the clear choice. The WET series components are ideal for outdoor and cold-weather use, with carbon-fibre low frequency drivers and handmade fibreglass speaker cabinets with triple-layer grills. And the use of Ferrofluid in the voice coil gaps really helps to protect the speakers from the elements."
The low temperatures and harsh winds present their own acoustical challenges as well, and the system needed to be robust enough to compensate for the weather and overcome the weekly din of 73,000 of the NFL's most raucous fans, The audio system is comprised of 83 of Community's WET 315H full-range systems, along with 169 of their R.5-66TX full-range loudspeakers. The stadium's main "Bowl" section is reinforced with 18 Community Professional Wet R6-51 full range bass horns to give the low end more punch.
"The R.5's provide great mid/low frequency response from a small box, making them light enough to be suspended from the upper canopy," Horrell adds. With 14 more R.5HP cabinets covering the bowl area, the system provides the level of audio performance football fans have come to expect from modern stadium systems. "We managed to increase low-frequency output in the bowl area by 240 percent," notes Horrell.
The $2.1 million system overhaul also included the addition of a new parabolic microphone system in the eastern end zone - home of the infamous Cleveland "Dog Pound" - allowing the fans to hear the field noise and referee calls with the same detail provided on the team's TV broadcasts. Higher-output amplifiers by QSC were also installed to handle the requirements of the new sound system, and the Durrell team replaced all the old speaker mounts with durable, custom-designed stainless steel brackets that have become a Durrell specialty.
"We believe this new audio system will not only hold up under the area's extreme weather conditions, but will also help to create the ideal audio experience that today's NFL fans expect in a modern, state-of-the-art facility," Horrell concludes. "The new Community system will give the Browns unparalleled sonic performance, as well as opening the door for a wide range of additional events at the stadium."
15th September 2006
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