PHOTO : BOBBY SINGH /@ FOHPHOTO
EAW QX SERIES LOUDSPEAKERS AFFIXED TO THE UPPER DECK FASCIA SERVE AS THE MAIN PA .
NOTICE THE RIGGED WHITE BOXES ABOVE AS WELL . some design specs ; and it came to tender in June of 2019 … It was pretty important to the Blue Jays that stuff be supplied and warrantied in Canada .” As the Canadian distributor for both EAW and QSC , SFM was in a prime spot , and a unique one at that , as Deslauriers notes that this project marked the first time SFM had worked with an American integrator on such a large-scale project .
Deslauriers , who was already intimately familiar with the venue and the customized EAW system that had been installed prior , explains that the need for an upgrade went beyond just replacing old components . “ As fan expectations over time have changed , [ the venue ] wanted a system that could achieve higher levels of SPL and have more density in the coverage . And they looked at the EAW QX box because of its loading of the four low frequency drivers and the common mid-high frequency horn in a very small footprint , so it looks very unassuming in the bowl ; you can see the loudspeakers if you look for them , but it ’ s not obvious as you ’ re sitting in the chair that ‘ Hey , there ’ s a bunch of loudspeakers !’ So , they have a significantly smaller footprint than what was in there up until this renovation , but significantly more horsepower .”
It ’ s also a matter of making better use of the building ’ s acoustics , according to Christiansen , who describes the building as a “ concrete and glass bowl .” He continues , “ As opposed to the newer ballparks that are all asymmetrical , open-roof , or sometimes open-roof , we get a lot of reflections , and it all goes down into the centre and reflects back at you ; so , we don ’ t have a beautiful acoustical environment . So , we sort of have to throw more level at it in order to mitigate a lot of the reflections that happen . Or , like we ’ re doing now because we ’ re only allowed to sell 15,000 seats because of COVID protocols , we ’ ve muted the upper decks and we ’ re not throwing sound off them or anything like that ; where there ’ s no one sitting , we don ’ t have the system on .”
Christiansen notes that the upgrade is also for the players just as much as everyone else . “ The players choose the walk-up music that plays as they come to the plate , or pitchers as they come out of the bullpen and so on , so it ’ s important to them . They go to parks all over the league , and what they communicated to us was that there are some parks that put speakers down by the dugout that play a mix-minus of the PA announcer and their walkout music to help some of the systems that don ’ t have the power ours does to blast the music to the batter ’ s box for them .
“ After our first couple games [ back ] here , they said ‘ Hey , do you have a little more gas on that level for our walk-up music ?’ and for game three , we made an adjustment where we played their walk-up music and our PA announcer ’ s call of them coming to the plate , almost wide open . And we got a lot of comments after the game from the club , saying that it ’ s really rockin ’ down there and they really like it ,” he explains .
The Install
Covert explains that AJP ’ s approach to system design is consistent across all large sports venues , beginning with looking at all of the acoustical conditions inherent to the building ’ s listening spaces . This includes measurement and documentation , followed by verification of speech clarity and intelligibility through an acoustical model of the building within EASE software . The consistency of loudspeaker SPL coverage is also verified at this time .
“ The system is a distributed loudspeaker design ,” Covert says . “ The goal was to place loudspeaker devices as close to the listener as possible while maintaining even coverage at nominal levels . Considerations were also given to automatic adjustments to the system based on the position of the roof .”
A total of 125 trapezoidal EAW QX loudspeakers were installed on the outer fascia of the 500 level as the main PA , with three-way QX500 series boxes covering the 100 level , two-way QX300 series boxes for the 200 level , and a combination of both 500 and 300 series for the 500 level . Of the 500 series units , there are 29 of the QX564I , 23 of the QX566I , 22 of
PROFESSIONAL SOUND 27