\u201cThe venue has sounded great for over a decade, but they wanted it to sound even bigger,\u201d says Bryce Stettler, AV System Designer and Project Engineer at Poll Sound, the Salt Lake City-based integration firm that handled both projects. He notes that BYU was intimately familiar with L-Acoustics sound quality, given the arena\u2019s prior Kara system, plus a dV-DOSC system installed at BYU\u2019s 1,200-seat DeJong Concert Hall in 2009. \u201cThey wanted a more full-range sound to accommodate more kinds of music and L-Acoustics K2 was the perfect choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new professional sound system was primarily designed by Brad Streeter, Director of Audio Visual Services at BYU\u2019s Office of Information Technology, in consultation with L-Acoustics engineers, and installed by Poll Sound, which also assisted with commissioning, tuning, and calibration. \u201cOur primary motivation for upgrading to the K2 was headroom, particularly for sporting events, to be able to get above the noise of the crowd \u2013 led by BYU\u2019s ROC [Roar of Cougars] student section \u2013 without overdriving the system. The additional headroom was needed without sacrificing sound quality and intelligibility,\u201d says Streeter, adding that the arena is a multi-use facility that hosts a wide range of events, including a weekly campus-wide devotional, University commencement, music concerts, and dance performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest L-Acoustics installation comprises eight arrays of nine K2<\/a> each, which address the arena\u2019s lower bowl seating below the concourse and are powered by LA12X<\/a> amplified controllers. Coverage of the seating above the concourse is handled by 16 delayed arrays of one Kilo over five Kiva<\/a>, each powered by recently-upgraded LA4X<\/a>, while two arrays of six repurposed Kara<\/a> enclosures flown adjacent to the central scoreboard cover the court floor. The system is rounded out by a pair of P1<\/a> processors, which feed signals to the amps and speakers over Milan-AVB<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although most of the Kara from the previous system have been repurposed at other venues on campus, the delay speakers and subwoofers from the earlier installation remain in place. Speaking of low end, Stettler notes that K2\u2019s ability to reach effortlessly down to 35 Hz has added tremendously to basketball\u2019s bass-heavy culture there. \u201cSo much full range coming from each one of those arrays has been really helpful in maintaining the low end everywhere,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re actually getting a lot more low frequency reinforcement from the K2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Marriott Center needed more impact for music and sound effects for games, as college basketball has become as much about entertainment as it is sport, but Stettler points out that the venue is also used for a number of other applications, such as live events, and those especially needed enhanced speech intelligibility. \u201cIn addition to impact for the games, they were also looking to enhance the sound of events held there,\u201d he says, \u201cso it was a big deal to keep it to where speech was really intelligible, especially for larger crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brad Streeter, who also designed the professional sound system for Brigham Young University\u2019s School of Music Building, competed in 2023, says the school has its own engineering team that has the depth to design the audio for venues such as these, as well as the ability to do much of its own systems integration, relying on Poll Sound as a partner for these kinds of larger projects. For the new system update at the Marriott Center, he says they were able to largely follow the same design as the previous system, for box location and positioning. \u201cWhat\u2019s great about L-Acoustics is that we knew what to expect from the new system, in terms of coverage and performance quality, even before it was installed thanks to Soundvision and our prior experience with Kara,\u201d he says. \u201cWe knew going in that the K2 system would sound and perform great, which really gave us confidence in making this investment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stettler says the Marriott Center is emblematic of college sports venues becoming more attuned to sports as a form of entertainment, with the need for more full-range sound. \u201cWe’ve spent a lot of time educating our bigger university clients as to the difference in a premium system like L-Acoustics, and now they\u2019re starting to realize that there is a big difference in that,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re becoming a lot more aware of the brands that have become important in entertainment and that are finding their way into sports, more recently at the college level. This is a market that wants the same kind of sound that you come to expect from concert tours and professional sports, and L-Acoustics certainly provides that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more details on BYU\u2019s Marriott Center, visit\u00a0https:\/\/ur.byu.edu<\/a>\/marriott-center<\/a>. Poll Sound can be found online at\u00a0w<\/a>ww.pollsound.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Brigham](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/la-byu-marriott-center-1-1024x683.jpg\")
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