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Meeting held April 15, 1996, Key Arena, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA.
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Meeting held April 15, 1996, Key Arena, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA.
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50 people got a 17,000 seat NBA basketball arena all to themselves for a night, when the PNW Section got a review of the new Seattle Center KeyArena sound system. PNW Chair Rick Smarigassi, head of the Seattle Center Sound Department, gave introductions and an overview, then acoustical consultant Michael Yantis of Michael Yantis and Associates, and systems contractor engineer Ron Simonson of CCI Systems described the acoustical considerations of such a space, and the trials and tribulations of designing such a sound system.
KeyArena is the result of a complete rebuilding of the Seattle Center Coliseum. Originally built for the 1962 World's Fair as an exhibit space, it was turned into a multipurpose arena for basketball, rock concerts and ice shows. Problems with the roof and a lack of seats lead to the decision to completely gut the structure, dig down further, and build a new, larger arena inside the shell of the old one.
Michael Yantis, project acoustician, described the reverb time with a chart. He wanted to keep the mid and high frequency performance, while improving the low frequency performance. Part of this improvement came at a cost savings - by recycling the old perforated metal acoustical panels in the ceiling. They were not his first choice of ceiling treatment, but by spacing them further from the roof, they proved acceptable. He felt that the acoustic effect of the concourse was not as good as it could be, but cited the old bugaboos of time and money. No formal acoustic tests had yet been conducted with a full house. The EAW system eventually provided by CCI Systems was probably not his first choice - but he let Ron Simonson explain how it proved acceptable. Ron's company had experience doing the sound systems for other NBA arenas: America West Arena in Phoenix, and Gund Arena in Cleveland. He described in great detail the entire story of the sound system's gestation, from Request for Proposal (with a spec of 120 dB peak SPLs) to design, construction and rigging. EAW provided the speakers, JBL CADPII was used for coverage and SPL mapping. ATM Flyware provided rigging design, and amplification was Crown run with the Crown IQ system. A Soundcraft Vienna is the FOH console, making it one of the best consoles (and in one the prime seating areas) in an arena of this sort. The speakers are an exploded cluster design, with four clusters above each side of the basketball court. Amps are built onto the clusters. The budget was $700,000. The sound system was used for the guest speakers, and the graphics were shown on the scoreboard videowalls! Attendees were free to examine the FOH Soundcraft Vienna, the video booth, and audition the system's capabilities with prerecorded music as they walked throughout the arena.
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