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Oriole Park at Camden Yards has housed the Baltimore Orioles since its unveiling in 1992 and continues to be a favorite among baseball enthusiasts. The park recently benefited from the installation of a brand new distributed sound reinforcement system, featuring nearly 300 loudspeakers from EAW, a world leader in sound system solutions. The installation, completed in time for the Orioles' April 6th season opener against the New York Yankees, was finished in a highly accelerated time period of six months, which is approximately half the amount of time a system of this magnitude would take to install under normal conditions. To meet these stringent deadlines, EAW drew on its manufacturing resources to supply the complete loudspeaker inventory requested for the installation.  The Maryland Stadium Authority, who manages the state-owned facility, contracted with the Tampa-based AV integration company AVI-SPL. The system was designed by New York-based SIA Acoustics, who was the audio consultant for the Baltimore Orioles on the project. "Working with EAW to complete the Oriole Park installation made the process easy for us," stated Sam Berkow of SIA Acoustics. "EAW and our contracting team, SPL, worked out an initial schedule for delivery, in order to meet a tough installation timetable, and they met every deadline - with products we could rely on right out of the box."  SIA selected a wide range of EAW products for the project. EAW AX364-WP (Weather-Protected variation) Arrayable Install Loudspeakers were used for the Upper and Lower Deck front-firing; EAW MK2394-WP 2-Way Full Range Installation Loudspeakers for Upper Deck down- and rear-fill, Lower Deck rear-fill and Outfield front-firing; and EAW JFX100i Compact Full-Range Loudspeakers for Club level front-firing and Lower Deck down-fill. The EAW UX8800 Digital Signal Processor was employed for bowl loudspeaker processing. The system also boasts a new BSS control system, 110 Crown Audio amplifiers and a 48-channel Yamaha digital mixing console. A digital audio network is utilized for signal distribution throughout the stadium, minimizing signal loss and improving reliability and control. Remote monitoring and control of every amplifier channel is also provided. Berkow continued, summing up the significance of the new system and EAW's key role: "Oriole Park is one of the finest stadiums in baseball - one of the first modern stadiums to celebrate the traditions of baseball. It now has one of the finest sound systems in baseball to match. EAW products serve the seating bowl well and provide the stadium with high performance audio." Will Parry, VP of Sales for AVI-SPL stated, "Eighteen years ago the team at legacy SPL installed the original system at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. At that time it was one of the first distributed sound systems in professional sports and radically changed forever the way Major League Stadiums were designed and heard. As a resident of Maryland and as part of the original team, I was extremely proud to have been involved in that project. The upgraded audio system that SIA Acoustics designed and AVI-SPL installed certainly reaffirms Oriole Park as a world class ball park. EAW speakers made our job easy as they just sound great!"  Jeffrey Cox, VP of EAW, stated, "We were very proud to have been chosen as the loudspeaker system manufacturer for the newly remodeled Oriole Park at Camden Yards. This is one of the iconic baseball stadiums in Major League Baseball, and despite the very tight delivery schedule, EAW was able to provide the entire system on time. Working with Sam at SIA and SPL is always a pleasure and their design was impeccable, delivering excellent coverage throughout the stadium. Oriole fans will be delighted with their new sound system. Play Ball!"
The Vera Project (Vera) is a Seattle music-arts center run by and for youth. By engaging participants at all levels of music production and community organizing, Vera strives to fulfill its mission to foster a participatory creative culture through popular music concerts, arts programs, experiential learning and volunteer opportunities for all ages, especially young people. This year’s concert calendar boasts performances from singer-songwriter Maria Taylor, electronic musician Dan Deacon and neo-folk act Iron & Wine, among others. EAW, a world leader in sound system technology, is a proud sponsor of the program and recently donated some products to this worthwhile cause. In 2008, EAW assisted the Vera Project by providing a selection of LA460 Full-Range Loudspeakers, subwoofers and power amplifiers. Following that, the Vera staff saw an opportunity to upgrade their stage monitors. “EAW was kind enough to donate some SM12’s and an SM15,” notes Jeffery McNulty, Tech-Facilities Manager for the Vera Project. “I had contacted Jon [Bosaw, EAW Director of Sales] to see about us purchasing some monitors, and he instead got really excited about helping us out in a very kind and generous way with a great donation.” McNulty is thrilled with the EAW products and what it has meant for the Vera Project. He stated, “We have a great Live Sound program here, and we are so happy to be able to teach people how to use this excellent EAW gear. We continuously place engineers into other clubs around Seattle, and they are usually well seasoned by the time they make it through our system. We like to foster a new attitude here at the Vera where the artist comes first, with the audience a close second, so that touring acts have an enjoyable experience, and that of course starts with great gear and well trained volunteers. The Danielson Family was here recently, and the drummer wrote on his blog that the Vera Project was his favorite venue of the whole tour, in large part because of the great P.A. sound and monitor mix.”
The tenth Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April saw hundreds of performers across five stages, with a wide range of artists include Sir Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen, The Cure, The Killers and hip hop pioneers Public Enemy, among many others. These artists thrilled the assembled throngs of eager music fans, and the artists themselves were thrilled by great-sounding stage monitors: MicroWedge (MW) units from EAW, a world leader in sound system solutions. More than 50 EAW MicroWedge Series MW12 Stage Monitors were employed over four Coachella stages by sound reinforcement vendor Rat Sound Systems Inc. To date, this was the largest outlay of MW units ever for a single event, according to Rat Sound President Dave Rat, who was the co-designer of the MicroWedge 12 (along with the EAW engineering team). For the last 18 months, the MicroWedge Series has been exclusively manufactured and distributed by EAW, under license from Rat Sound Systems. Covering Coachella took a lot of monitors and a lot of manpower. A 30-member crew from Rat Sound was employed to ensure that the concert’s sound was flawless day after day, night after night. The MicroWedge was a key component of the sound reinforcement system. “The MicroWedge is a great monitor under any circumstances, and I’m proud to have been intimately involved in its design,” stated Rat. “It especially offers an advantage for festival sound because it’s plug-and-play. And the sound is great – it’s full range.” As Rat notes, the MicroWedge is versatile for different artists’ monitoring preferences: “When you have so many artists constantly playing on all these stages, there’s little time to mess around with tuning the monitors. The MicroWedge has great sound from the moment you plug it in. All artists want their monitor sound slightly different, and the MicroWedge has the range to accommodate that and it can do it at very high volume without feeding back. That combination of tonality and volume is incredible. Plus they’re small, light and easy to carry and position on stage. Not to mention how cool they look.”
Mets fans will never miss a word when they see their favorite team play at the new Citi Field in Flushing, Queens, New York, thanks to an EAW sound system that’s as “amazin’” as the Mets themselves (to borrow the Mets’ first manager Casey Stengel’s colorful adjective for the team). Over 550 EAW MK and AX series boxes fill the bowl of the 42,000-seat stadium, which opened on April 13, 2009. The systems integrator was TSI Global Companies, LLC, and it was designed by consultants WJHW. The result is a highly focused system that is consistent in quality of sound and intelligibility from the top row to the field boxes. Employing EAW ensures that, from a sound point of view, everyone has a great seat. The key element of the massive and complex sound system is a customized version of EAW’s full-range AX364-210 Arrayable Install Loudspeakers with 60x40 horn, modified to fire simultaneously forward, down and to the rear. A pair of 10-inch woofers was added to the cabinet, aimed downward to cancel low-frequency buildup in what is, essentially, an architectural bass trap. Three of these precisely modified enclosures are installed at the clubhouse level, one of the most challenging spaces in a stadium of this design. Other notable aspects of the system include a large number of under-balcony speakers. These units make certain that the sound in Citi Field is beamed to hard-to-reach seats under overhanging tiers with the same clarity and intelligibility as everywhere else in the stadium. Furthermore, the system is delayed vertically through the upper and middle-tier levels, with delays ranging from 35 ms to 95 ms, computed using acclaimed SMAART software. Smaller clusters made up of various combinations of EAW MK5396, MK5364 and MK2396 2-Way Full Range Installation Loudspeaker enclosures serve seats on the field’s main level and outfield seating sections. “This was an immensely complex and challenging system, engineered to accommodate a sophisticated architectural design, and EAW products are at the core of the solution,” says Paul Murdick, Vice President of A/V for systems integrator TSI Global. “The modifications that EAW were able to execute on their AX364 enclosure met the specifications laid out by WJHW to a ‘T.’ As a result, those boxes are key to the overall consistency of the sound throughout the stadium, even in challenging locations. And the SMAART software made certain that the time alignments were precise and consistent from top to bottom. Thanks to EAW, there truly isn’t a bad seat in the house.”
Northside Christian Church of Spring, Texas, recently installed a new sound system featuring loudspeakers and subwoofers from EAW. The installation was completed in March 2009, with final system commissioning on March 28, as part of the development of the church’s new worship facility. Vance Breshears and Kelly Dunlop of El Cajon, California-based Sound Technology Consultants were the A/V and lighting design consultants for the project, and the A/V installation contractor was David Hairel and a team from Hairel Enterprises of Conroe, Texas. The church’s team included music director Jeremi Carnes and mix engineer Jose Barni. Other key individuals included Bruce Green from Irvine, California-based Visioneering Studios, who served as design architect for the new facility, and Kirk Guillory from Columbia, Maryland-based Waldon Studio, who was the project architect. EAW products selected for the system included AX364 Arrayable Install Loudspeakers, MK8196 Two-Way Full Range Installation Loudspeakers and AX122 High Output Subwoofers. The system is configured in a multi-channel LCR array, where all three primary sources and their delay elements provide coverage to all seating areas. Vance Breshears explained the choice of speakers, stating, “The AX products provide a good blend of pattern control, output and sound quality at a very reasonable cost. The MK8196 units were used for downfill and delay speakers. With the asymmetrical layout of the room, it took a combination of primary coverage, delay and fill speakers to get coverage to all seating areas.” Jeremi Carnes stated, “The new system and EAW speakers really enhance our worship experience. Sound Technology Consultants and Hairel Enterprises have done a fantastic job in both design and installation. We so appreciate and have benefited from their attention to detail.”
The inaugural Rayli International Jewelry and Culture Festival was recently held on the Rayli Riverbank Square in Yunnan Province, China. Rayli Riverbank Square is one of the most beloved and unique performance venues in the region, designed in such a way that approximately 12,000 attendees, some directly across the river in neighboring Myanmar, can enjoy the space’s performances. Chinese firm Hunan Tian Yin Art Performance Company selected EAW products to serve as the event’s loudspeakers and subwoofers. EAW products selected include the KF750 High Output Array Loudspeaker and the BH760 Bent Horn Subwoofer. Twenty-four KF750’s were flown, with twelve on each side of the stage in four layers of three speakers, for long throw and mid-distance throw. Each side of the stage also had six BH760’s (12 total) with two additional KF750’s stacked on each side. The festival took place from December 2nd through December 5th, 2008, featuring an elaborate opening ceremony headed by the area’s International Jewelry Committee and the “Happy China Travel” cast. The ceremony focused on the Yunnan people’s minority culture and the strong ties of friendship the area shares with Myanmar. Davwinder Sheena, EAW Director of International Sales, Asia/Pacific Rim, stated, “EAW provided the perfect sound for this event. All involved were quite pleased. It demonstrated to everyone’s ears what real sound is.”
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