EAW Delivers Over 600 Loudspeakers to NFL Stadium Project in Record Time

	EAW loudspeakers installed below the upper deck of LP Field.

Fans of the NFL's Tennessee Titans will return to LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee, this season to find a completely renovated stadium featuring a brand new distributed sound system using all EAW components. What they won't realize is that the entire system was specified, manufactured, and delivered in record time, only months before scheduled completion of the renovation in mid-July, just in time for pre-season games. Basing the system on the design by Dallas, Texas' Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc. (WJHW), a consulting firm offering state-of-the-art design services in sound systems, audio visual, scoreboard and video displays, and more, EAW worked closely with WJHW to provide the customized system for LP Field, meeting an extremely tight deadline. The WJHW-designed distributed system replaces the stadium's former point-source PA.

Over the course of the project, EAW was able to schedule manufacturing and delivery of components, including 96 TT12Si-T64-PL-WP custom-engineered enclosures; over 360 pieces from the MK Series, including the MK2399-WP, MK8196iPL-WP, MK2366-WP, and MK2364-WP; and 84 units from the QX Series, including the QX564-WP and QX544-WP.

To meet these stringent deadlines, EAW drew on the resources at its Whitinsville, Massachusetts R&D/manufacturing facility to supply the complete loudspeaker inventory requested for the installation. In addition to manufacturing a record number of WP weatherproof systems in a single month, EAW engineers also developed two, new custom-engineered systems. The TT12Si-T64-PL-WP systems were custom engineered to fit beneath a shallow overhang along the back few rows of the lower deck and rear handicap platforms. Similarly, custom-engineered TT212 steering woofer systems were designed to work with QX series modules along the upper-deck fascia to create end-fired arrays that direct more of the TT212's low-frequency energy down towards the seats in front of them and away from the hard-surface walls they are mounted near, eliminating reflections.

"When we say EAW delivered, we mean that literally," says Mark Graham, associate at WJHW and in charge of the audio systems aspect of the project, which also included two new high-definition LED video screens that are approximately four times the size of the current screens, as well as high-definition ribbon board video screens along the east and west sides of the stadium, and a new video replay system. The upgrades will be completed in time for the start of the 2012 season at an estimated cost of $26.8 million. "We didn't even come on board until last October, when the design process began, so the window for manufacturing, customization, and delivery was even tighter. After careful evaluation and our experience of working with EAW in the past, we realized that they would be our choice to provide us with exactly what we needed."

Graham says that EAW also worked closely with AVI-SPL, the AV systems integrator on the project, to coordinate its delivery to meet AVI-SPL's installation schedule, getting each set of components to the job site exactly when needed for installation. "It's fantastic that EAW was able to accomplish this on this kind of aggressive time frame," Graham marvels. "Thanks to them, when it's time for football at LP Field, everything will be ready."