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TOA comes out of the Penalty Box
All sound equipment couldn’t be deadhung in Copps but needed to be mounted on trusses so that it could be flown up to the ceiling. TOA designed a system that would cover the lower bowl of the arena and could be expanded to cover the upper bowl in the future. Paul Rennick, an audio technician at TOA, designed the system on site. “Our biggest challenge wasn’t really the cost,” says Tiller. “It was more the rigging issues within the building. The building was concerned with sight lines and the ability to move equipment in and out.” Copps was very specific about where FFP Laser could place the rig, and in the end the company installed four 25ft. trusses, one on each side of the ice. TOA supplied all audio equipment, including speakers, subwoofers, amplifiers, and a D901 digital mixer with internal DSP. Rennick of TOA designed the system so that the east and west trusses (behind either goal) each have four pairs of HX-5B variable-angle speakers, and the north and south (center ice) each have six pairs. Around the score clock above the ice is a permanent truss, where four cabinets were rigged—that’s a total of 44 HX-5B speakers around Copps. (The score clock speakers deliver announcements to players on the ice.) Rennick says that the biggest challenge in designing the system was dealing with the speakers’ 100-degree dispersion pattern—he had to ensure that their lines didn’t cross. Copps Coliseum also uses 19 IP-600D dual-channel 600W/channel amplifiers and 12 F-120B subwoofers from TOA Electronics. Microphones are another important audio source for the arena. TOA supplied a total of eight wireless microphones, both WM-4210 handheld and WM-4310 lavalier models. The system employs WTU-4800 wireless receivers and YW-4500 UHF fixedmount dipole antennas. “We knew from the start that they were going to stretch the system,” said Rob Tiller. “At the end of the day we were 100 percent pleased with what TOA delivered. It’s miles above what was there before.” (Courtesy of Trevor Boyer of TOA Canada) For more information please visit www.audioproducts.com.au or www.toacanada.com.
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At Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, hockey fans were getting frustrated. The American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs, who play their home games at Copps and own the building’s sound system, were getting complaints that the previous PA system rendered the game announcers unintelligible. The music didn’t sound much better. In place was a “really old, antiquated system, with some horn tweeters up there,” according to Rob Tiller, sales representative with FFP Laser Systems in Mississauga, Ontario. FFP Laser Systems acted as the liaison between Copps Coliseum and the eventual equipment suppliers. The company hosted a demo at the arena, and out of three manufacturers, it chose TOA Electronics for the quality of the sound the manufacturer produced in Copps, which has a capacity of 20,000. 
