The Ohio State Buckeyes football team finished an undefeated regular season with a boost from its new Meyer Sound LEO linear large-scale sound reinforcement system. In this first permanent LEO installation in the world, the sound system filled the vast 105,000-seat Ohio Stadium with crisp voice announcements and fan-pumping music over the loud, energetic crowd for all eight home games.
The core LEO system is anchored by twin hangs of 14-each LEO-M line array loudspeakers with bass bolstered by ten 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements. A Galileo® Callisto loudspeaker management system with two Callisto 616 array processors supplies drive and optimization. Mounted inside the video screen scoreboard structure at the south end of the mammoth oval, the potent LEO system projects sound across the bowl, reaching over 900 feet to the top seats on the north end.
"The LEO system sounds great, covers very well and gets loud," says Wayne Stephens, electronics superintendent for Ohio State Athletics. "With an excited crowd of over 105,000, the noise here gets pretty intense. But with LEO we can stay well above them without pushing the system."
Debuting this summer at major music festivals in North America and Europe, LEO is Meyer Sound's integrated system specifically designed for high-output reinforcement in larger arenas, stadiums, and at outdoor rock festivals. LEO systems have also supported international events including the recent Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway.
Designed by Larry Lucas of Anthony James Partners of Richmond, Va., the Ohio Stadium upgrade also includes six Meyer Sound SB-3F sound field synthesis loudspeakers aimed at the very far reaches to boost high frequencies, two UPA-1P loudspeakers for under-scoreboard near-fill, and two Galileo 616 processors for overall system management. The upgrade also retains - and in some cases repurposes - components from a Meyer Sound system installed 12 years ago, including MSL-4, MSL-6, and SB-1 loudspeakers. These loudspeakers are largely directed into the nearest third of the open bowl, while a distributed system of UPM-1P loudspeakers are used for deep under-balcony coverage.
