THE MAIN EVENT
By Keith Clark

How the sound system at the fabled Madison Square Garden was transformed in record time.

(Excerpts from S&VC - Sound and Video Contractor - April 2002 Issue)

It’s called “the world's most famous arena” because, quite simply, it is. For more than 100 years, Madison Square Garden has been center stage for many of the most memorable sporting and entertainment performances witnessed by several generations. a procession of four facilities have been erected at the same spot in Manhattan over the span of a century, all carrying the Madison Square Garden moniker, with the latest incarnation opening in 1968. In addition to serving as the home of the New York Knicks and New York rangers, the circular, 20,000-seat arena hosts a steady procession of events including circuses, prize fights, concerts, rodeos and even the New York city Police Academy graduation and the venerable Westminster Dog Show. About two years ago, Felix Robinson, audio supervisor for the Garden, recommended a new system to replace the one that had served admirably for more than a decade. Garden management concurred, procuring the budget for a project slated for completion in september 2001, just in time for the first face-off of the hockey season.

“The prior system was well designed for its time, and with some extra care...it had what can be considered an extended life span,” Robinson said. “Finally, it became apparent that an upgrade was in order, to take advantage of many technological advancements that would result in more flexibility, easier use and better overall sound quality and coverage.”

FILLING THE GAPS
Each application is a bit unique, but the overall goal was complete, even coverage of every seat, assured by the use of appropriate loudspeakers and optimized placement. Additional tailoring to meet the needs of a given application could be attained with configurable digital signal processing and matrixing on the system's front end. The circular nature of the room served as the basis of the loudspeaker layout. Where as the previous system had been based on four cluster locations, the new system would have eight achieving both the aesthetic and audio goals.

Increased system dynamics, to match modern production expectations, resulted in the inclusion of 16 Bag End Quartz subwoofers, each incorporating four 18-inch drivers (for a total of 64). Divided into tightly packed pairs and also firing almost straight down, these subwoofers reside directly behind the main clusters, with their companion ELF processors mounted in the equipment racks above the ceiling, capable of extended low frequencies down to 28-30 Hz, their exact cutoff point is still being defined.

All parties concur that sonic performance goals have been met, even while further tweeking continues. “Our first real test was a full house was when Michael Jordon and his Washington Wizards visited for a game with the Knicks. [The system] proved satisfactory,” Robinson said. “Everyone on the system team agreed that what we have now have sounds much better than what we expected. Coverage was full and even, and there's plenty of headroom in terms of both volume and dynamics.”

additional information on the Quartz-R and Quartz-I not in article