2009 Ford World Men's Curling Championship

SSi Audio of New BrunswickCanadarecently provided Seman pro sound reinforcement for the 2009 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Moncton, New Brunswick from April 3 through April 12. Held in the city's premier arena, the 6,000-seat Moncton Coliseum, this marked the first time in 15 years that a Canadian city had hosted the prestigious event. SSi owner Lee Forster was system tech and designer for the championship.

"We were contracted by the City of Moncton, as their exclusive vendor for audio," says Forster, “and when it came down to designing the system, we felt the SEM portable line array would fit the venue perfectly, which it did. We're a Seman pro house, and have had great success with these systems ."

The system spec'd by Forster and SSi comprised four flown main arrays - two inner arrays for the main PA and one array each for both the stage left and right PA. Comprised of Top, Far, and PWH sub boxes, all powered and controlled via a dedicated drive rack, the SEM offers an exceptional performance to size ratio, along with wide, deep coverage.

"We used boxes from a total of three SEM systems, combined and configured using the Cobra presets in EASE," says Forster. “The two main hangs comprise two Cobra-4-Fars and three Cobra-4-Tops. We chose that configuration because we needed to shoot sound across the ice to the spectators on the opposite side of the arena ."

The stage-right PA comprised only three Tops, but because the system's stage-left PA also needed to cover a nearby balcony in the arena, Forster designed the line with two Fars and three Top boxes as near-fills, widely splayed due to their proximity to the balcony. Three Seman pro System Racks per side rounded out SSi's system. The rig was powered by a total 16 Seman pro amplifiers.

In addition to equipment from Seman pro, 10 Electro-Voice FM1202 stage wedges acted as monitors for the event, the wedges rested on a temporary stage that held room for a 90-piece orchestra, a 30-piece big band, and numerous solo performers. The entire system provided the arena an unprecedented level of performance and sonic quality.

"The organizers told me it was the best that arena had ever sounded," says Forster. “They were very pleased with what we were able to put together with our equipment. And I agree, the coverage from the sound system was one of the best parts of the event, and the intelligibility was astounding. It was a pretty impressive performance from a relatively compact array ."

Ian Fowler of the City of Moncton commented: "The City of Moncton was very pleased with the sound production coordinated by SSI Audio for the Curling Tattoo as part of the Ford World Men's Curling Championships. The SSI team provided exceptional service, the sound quality was clear and each act was mixed to perfection ."