American Family Field, formerly known as Miller Park, is home to MLB's Milwaukee Brewers as well as a host of musical artists as a local concert stop on major tours. The 41,900-seat ballpark recently upgraded its comprehensive sound system with Powersoft’s Dante-compatible Quattrocanali DSP+D amplifiers.
The Powersoft amplifiers, comprising Quattrocanali 1204 DSP+D, 2404 DSP+D, 4804 DSP+D and 8804 DSP+D—which offer four channels of output at 1,200W, 2,400W, 4,800W and 9,600W of power, respectively—form an integral part of a loudspeaker, amplifier, and control-system upgrade overseen by technology solutions provider Diversified, which has offices around the United States, as well as in London, Tokyo, Bangalore, and across Australia.
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As Diversified’s Jeff Dykhouse, senior design engineer, Sports and Live Events explained, the company wanted to replace an “ageing, voice-focused” sound system with a “modern, high-performance system offering high-resolution, full-range music and voice to every seat in the venue.”
Audio consultant WJHW handled the design for the new PA system, with Diversified suggesting “some substitutions and improvements” that led to the final lay-out, added Dykhouse, who served as the engineer of record for the project.
For the new sound system, Diversified specified 67 Quattrocanali amplifiers—two 1204 DSP+D, one 2404 DSP+D, 24 4804 DSP+D and 40 8804 DSP+D—to power speakers from Fulcrum Acoustic (FH, GX and CX series) and Community (R.15 and R.35), as well as a DiGiCo Quantum 225, all managed by a QSC Q-SYS DSP.
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The Quattrocanalis are installed in three amplifier rooms, located near the stadium’s first base, home plate, and third base seating zones. The amplifiers were set up using Powersoft’s ArmoníaPlus software and are controlled using the Powersoft plug-in for Q-SYS. Diversified also used ArmoníaPlus to configure and tune the entire seating bowl system.
According to Dykhouse, Diversified chose Quattrocanali DSP+D amplifiers for their high power and digital connectivity—all Powersoft DSP+D models are able to receive audio-over-IP steams via Dante/AES67—as well as their quick start-up in the event of power failure.
He also highlighted the support offered by the Powersoft U.S. team during the install, in particular that provided by senior sales engineer Rick Woida, who helped the Diversified team configure the new system. “Rick Woida from Powersoft USA engaged Powersoft’s software team to make changes to the Q-SYS plugin that were needed for the visual user interface deployed at the venue. We couldn’t be happier with how helpful they were,” he commented.
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Woida in turn is full of praise for Diversified’s work in Milwaukee. “We are thrilled to have joined forces with Diversified on this transformative project, which showcased both companies’ dedication to audio excellence on a grand stage,” he said. “Together with Diversified we hit all the right notes, and the result speaks for itself.”
