Dallas' Galleria Mall Outfits Its Skating Rink With A Custom Sound System
Located at the busiest intersection in Texas, the Galleria in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is an atrium-style super-mall with more than 200 stores and restaurants. It also encompasses three attached office towers, a hotel and an ice rink. The Galleria recently underwent a $25 million-plus renovation that included the complete reconstruction of its centerpiece ice rink. As part of that renovation, Fort Worth sound system designer and installation contractor Electro Acoustics & Video, Inc. (EAVI) was hired to design a new sound system to serve both ice rink users and the shoppers in the central area of the atrium.
Erich Friend, senior project engineer for EAVI, said he wanted to design a sound system that would allow the wide, dynamic range demanded by the mall operations. "During peak holiday periods the ambient noise levels can exceed 90 dBA and during off-season morning hours the levels can be a modest 40-50 dBA," Friend said. "We had to design a system that would not interfere with the retail business and restaurants that surround the rink area while providing a substantial energy level for the reinforcement of live productions."
"We selected Bag End subwoofers for several reasons," Friend added. "We knew they would lay down a solid bottom-end that would rock the skaters and drive the presence of live performance," he said.
Working with the Barrington, IL, loudspeaker manufacturer, Friend selected 10 Bag End S10E-I custom cabinets, each containing one 10-inch subwoofer, to be placed behind the dasher boards around the rink perimeter. To accommodate limited depth, Bag End engineers developed a custom cabinet that was only 5 7/8 inches deep, compared to the depth of the standard production model, which is 11 1/2 inches deep. The custom enclosure was 18 inches high by 15 inches.
"Completing the sound system, 25 JBL high frequency speakers are located around the rink perimeter. An additional 26 JBL ceiling speakers and 19 ceiling subwoofers surround the atrium on each of the three levels," Friend said.
"Mall patrons gather at the railings on all levels overlooking the ice during special events, so the speakers on each level are individually equalized and delayed so that the composite sound from the rink and the nearby speakers is consistent," he added.
Electro Acoustics & Video...www.eavi.com
Bag End...www.bagend.com
JBL...www.jbl.com
