(02/05/2015) University of Utah's Jon M. Huntsman Center, a 15,000-seat arena that serves as home to the school's Runnin' Utes basketball, Utes volleyball and Red Rocks gymnastic teams, recently wrapped up a massive $6M renovation project. When the dust finally settled, U of U's largest sporting and entertainment venue featured two new grand entrances plus a new floor, drapes, LED lighting system and versatile house sound system comprised of L-Acoustics' powerful Kara and high-directivity ARCS WiFo enclosures.
The audio portion of the project represented a joint effort between two Salt Lake City businesses: acoustician and technology consulting firm Spectrum Engineers, who provided the design and construction documents, and systems integration company Poll Sound, who installed the system and assisted with product specific design.
According to Poll Sound's Deward Timothy, the first order of business with the renovation project involved the removal of the venue's heavy steel and concrete cloud. The Huntsman Center had a very large structural cloud that maxed out the weight limit on the roof and was not suitable for hanging technical lighting or sound, which made the venue unsuitable for concerts, he notes. The idea with the remodel was to have the space divisible with a curtain system to create various sized smaller rooms, and to replace the cloud with a lighter weight super grid' that could accommodate concert technical systems. Since the room would now be divided, it was important in the sound system design that it be able to support each section individually; in other words, coverage in the unused areas could be turned off at will.
Using L-Acoustics' Soundvision acoustical modeling software, the two firms collaborated on the design of a new loudspeaker setup to replace the arena's previous vintage center cluster system, which had issues with hot spots and low intelligibility in many areas.
Installed late last year, the new system features two concentric rings of loudspeakers: eight main arrays of eight Kara flown beneath two SB18i subs addressing the lower bowl seating areas, and 16 delay arrays of three ARCS Focus enclosures collectively delivering a razor-sharp 45 degrees of coverage to the upper bowl seats. Four arrays of three ARCS Wide mounted under the scoreboard each provide a tightly focused 90-degree pattern to the basketball floor. All loudspeakers are powered and processed by a combination of seven LA8 and 21 LA4X amplified controllers housed in racks on a platform near the top of the dome with fiber runs to the mix position where a computer running L-Acoustics' LA Network Manager monitoring and control software is located.
It would have been possible to cover both the upper and lower bowl areas by using larger arrays but that would not have accomplished the zoning near as well, points out Spectrum's Sarah Rollins. One of their scenarios is to only cover quarter or half of the lower bowl. It is far more accurate to use a delay ring than to try and turn portions of the arrays on and off. Plus, we get better direct-to-reverberant levels having the speakers closer to the audience. The bulk of the system power and quality come from the main arrays with the delay ring adding fullness and intelligibility to the upper bowl.
The arena is perfectly round so all delay arrays are identical and equal distance from the audience. Originally we had thought about using Kiva arrays for the delay ring, Rollins adds. However, the Soundvision model showed us that the ARCS Focus would cover the area perfectly and the fact that it nicely fit the budget was a plus. ARCS Focus was the right choice and is providing even, natural-sounding coverage to the upper bowl.
Timothy recalls that his production department worked a Veterans Day concert using the new in-house system, only needing to augment the equipment for monitoring and front fill to produce localization to the stage. The main reinforcement was the newly installed system, which was highly successful, he says. It's not often that you find an arena system of such high quality. It covers well, is highly intelligible [measured STIPA of .79 in full arena mode], has a substantial amount of acoustic power, and is of premium components. The versatility of the system with its zone coverage capabilities is invaluable and the University has been very happy with it so far. In fact, they made it through the entire basketball season without a single audio complaint only praise.
About L-Acoustics
Founded in 1984 near Paris, France, L-Acoustics is a leading manufacturer of turnkey solutions for the professional sound industry. With 250 team members, 20 percent of whom are dedicated to R&D, L-Acoustics is present in over 75 countries either through subsidiaries or via a network of certified distributors or providers.
Recognized throughout the industry for pioneering the modern line array, L-Acoustics offers a total system approach for both the touring and fixed installation markets, and a product line responding to the needs of venues from the most intimate club to the grandest arena. L-Acoustics sound systems can be heard in places like the Hollywood Bowl, the NBA Houston Rockets Toyota Center, or the Philharmonie de Paris. L-Acoustics solutions have been used at five of the world's ten top-grossing festivals*, the London and Sochi Olympics, and on the Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience World Tour, among others.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
(02/05/2015) University of Utah's Jon M. Huntsman Center, a 15,000-seat arena that serves as home to the school's Runnin' Utes basketball, Utes volleyball and Red Rocks gymnastic teams, recently wrapped up a massive $6M renovation project. When the dust finally settled, U of U's largest sporting and entertainment venue featured two new grand entrances plus a new floor, drapes, LED lighting system and versatile house sound system comprised of L-Acoustics' powerful Kara and high-directivity ARCS WiFo enclosures.
