D.A.S. goes center court with Miami Heat
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With their very own dynamic duo–consisting of Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade–the Miami Heat are one of the hottest and most visible teams in the NBA (National Basketball Association). The Heat won the 2005-2006 NBA finals and they continue to be a dominant team in every aspect of the game. The Heat Group, which operates the team, recently completed an audio upgrade for their premium seating areas at American Airlines Arena (the Miami Heat’s home court) , and for this, they chose eight CA-28A line array modules from D.A.S. Audio’s Aero catalog.
Located in downtown Miami along Biscayne Bay, game commentators–situated courtside– were struggling with audio levels that were too loud. Unfortunately, backing off the levels created other challenges, as Dave Vickery, Director of Broadcast Services for the Heat Group, explained. "Our old speakers had an 80-degree dispersion pattern," said Vickery, "and the broadcasters sitting courtside were complaining about the levels being too hot. So, we’d have to bring the level down for the North and South sides, but then the premium seats behind them were complaining they couldn’t hear. The solution to this issue was to have a loudspeaker system that could be aimed precisely where we needed it–shooting sound just over the broadcaster’s heads so that they wouldn’t be bombarded by excessive sound levels. The Aero CA-28A’s did just that for us."
For each direction in the arena–North, South, East, and West–there are now two CA-28A’s flown from the underside of the scoreboard at center court. According to Vickery’s associate Jorge Arronte, who serves as the Manager of Arena Sound and Matrix, "The Aero CA-28A’s dispersion pattern enabled us to precisely control the direction of the sound. After making the necessary measurements and adjustments, we were able to provide ideal sound coverage for the premium seating areas, and yet the commentators hear very little of this, so they can perform their responsibilities without the distractions caused by the previous sound system."
The D.A.S. Audio Aero CA-28A is a powered, bi-amplified, two-way compact line array module with a frequency range of 80 Hz – 18 kHz. As a self-powered loudspeaker system, the Aero CA-28A’s also made the installation process easier. "The fact that these are powered speakers was very important to us," said Arronte. "Since the scoreboard is suspended from the center of the ceiling, cabling issues can be a real challenge when running standard non-powered loudspeakers. The fact that the amps and loudspeakers are all one tightly integrated package simplified our cabling and made the installation considerably easier–and since the power is local to the speaker, this also provides us a bit more control."
Since the Aero CA-28A’s are, in this particular application, used primarily for dialog, the power amps were also optimized for speech. "The amps powering this system were modified to place more focus on the mids and low mids," notes Arronte. "This adjustment brings out the voices and has had a tremendous impact on intelligibility. The clarity of the dialog run through the system is really impressive. By utilizing the CA-28A’s for the first few rows of premium seats, we’ve addressed a number of important considerations: (1) the commentators can function without excessive audio levels, (2) the premium seating areas get great sound coverage, and (3) the new system blends in seamlessly with the loudspeaker clusters that cover the remaining areas of the arena."
Vickery commented on the "unofficial" test results during the system’s evaluation period, "During the 2005-2006 NBA playoffs, the crowd noise was louder than ever with all the screaming fans. As a measuring gauge of sorts, some of the Heat Group’s senior management staff were sitting down low on the west side in premium seats, and they served as our sounding board throughout this particularly loud period. When the D.A.S. system went in, they all signaled a significant improvement in the sound quality. The moment we installed the Aero CA-28A’s, they gave us a big thumbs up."
Reflecting on D.A.S. Audio’s customer support, Vickery offered this closing comment. "We actually had the Aero CA-28A system for a rather extended evaluation period. Throughout this entire time, the company was extremely supportive and offered us all the technical assistance we needed. I’m pleased to say, the system was so easy to work with, we didn’t require a single support call. Our purchase was handled through Ralph Alvarez of Miami’s Interface Sound and was completed in April 2007. Now, both the Heat Group and, most importantly, the fans, couldn’t be happier."
