US Open 2023: Arthur Ashe Stadium’s New PA System Targets Both Acoustics and Entertainment Needs

Touring-type system sweetens the sound in the noisy venue

Bounded by the clattering elevated 7 train and La Guardia airport, Arthur Ashe Stadium, part of USTA’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY, has always been a noisy place. It became even more so when a retractable roof was added in 2016. The new covering acted as a parabolic reflector, amplifying the chattering of fans in the stands even as it became a snare-drum skin in the summer rain.

The venue’s noisy environment simply became part of the US Open’s soundscape, routinely picked up by broadcast microphones during matches. As ESPN Audio Supervisor Florian Brown put it to SVG at the time, “We’re here to document what happens at the US Open. Everything, including that.”

But the sound inside Arthur Ashe Stadium is a bit sweeter this year, thanks to the addition of a new PA system. Designed by Dave Burnor, consultant/system designer, AVVIT Audiovisual Consulting, and installed by systems integrator Norcon Communications, the system unveiled this month is the final of a three-phase project that began in 2020.

Each of the four sides of the stadium has four clusters of d& b audiotechnik ALi60 SVS and ALi90 SVS cabinets. On the north, east, and west sides, each cluster comprises four cabinets and a single Vi-GSUB SVS subwoofer. On the south side, where the broadcast booth shortens the audience seating, each cluster is only three cabinets deep, with the single Vi-GSUB SVS. All the cabinets have a custom color matching the special white of the Tennis Center.

Discrete subwoofers help mitigate the difficult acoustics at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

This is the first PA system in the venue with subwoofers that are discrete and not part of other speaker cabinets. The smaller form factor of the speaker boxes meant that they could be suspended lower without interfering with sight lines. Custom cabinets on the SVS loudspeakers have additional weather protection and stainless-steel hardware since they may be exposed to the elements for long periods.

It’s the most recent of a progressively higher-tech series of AP system since the venue was built in 1997. The original system was designed with Altec Lansing components and evolved over the years from Altec and Media Matrix components to QSC Q-Sys electronics and Altec, EV, JBL, Renkus Heinz, L-Acoustics, and now d&b loudspeakers. Some of the previous systems’ components are still used.

Difficult Acoustics

The successive new PA designs were in pursuit of the venue’s challenging acoustics, which became even more so when the roof was added.

“The space is incredibly reverberant, especially with the roof closed,” explains Charles Burnor, senior manager, AV, USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (and son of the system’s designer). “d&b rolled out a demo of a similar cluster design for us in early 2020. [The previous PA system] was a distributed system but ended up having a ton of backfiring energy, producing a mid-low–frequency honk. The d&b software and filtering was able to show that a lot of that could be eliminated to improve intelligibility. We did an A/B test of the existing versus the new and also placed the [speaker] clusters in a different spot, away from reflective surfaces, which helped. In addition to [deploying] a great solution for reverberant spaces, we relocated the clusters, which put the speakers closer to the [seats].”

That is increasingly important for tennis, which, like virtually every other broadcast sport, has become more of an entertainment proposition.

“Twenty years ago, [the audience] was very staid, and [the sound] was often just a couple of scoring announcements from the umpire,” says Burnor. “But, for the production value — particularly for Opening Night, quarters, semis, and finals – they’ve really bumped up the game, along with the lighting and interval music. There’s a DJ in the production booth now. They’ve made an event out of it — a little bit more like basketball, I would say.”

Arthur Ashe Stadium will have sound on a par with any other venue of its size and type, giving it more options outside of its tennis applications. Notes Burnor, “That’s important for any venue these days.”