Saddleback College Rides High With L-Acoustics

Mission Viejo, California’s Saddleback College is now “riding high” with a new outdoor sports complex home to Saddleback’s football, soccer, track, and other teams. Among the complex’s long list of modern amenities is superior sound thanks to an L-Acoustics K2 loudspeaker system installed by Los Angeles-based Streamline Integration.

Saddleback College Sports Complex’s new gridiron is surrounded by a nine-lane running track and seating for up to 8,000 spectators. The site also features two turf football practice fields, a turf soccer field, thrower’s park, concessions stand, modern press box, multiple meeting and event rooms, and integrated Wi-Fi. As for audiovisual facilities, a state-of-the-art Daktronics endzone scoreboard is now flanked to the left and right sides by twin arrays of five K2 enclosures powered by L-Acoustics LA8 amplified controllers.

PCL & Morrow-Meadows, the project’s general contractor, called upon Streamline Integration to design all audio facilities for the new complex following their previous successful collaboration for the Los Angeles Football Club. The Saddleback project marked the first time that Streamline had installed L-Acoustics, and Vice President Paul Mason says that it was an extremely positive experience.

“We had initially planned to use another brand of speakers for Saddleback’s endzone scoreboard system but determined early on that it would not adequately fill the stadium and additional speakers would be required,” Mason recalls. “An alternate solution was needed and, thankfully, Dave Kuhner and Dan Palmer from L-Acoustics stepped in at the right time. They were instrumental in helping us every step of the way, including the design, engineering, and documentation comparing our initial design to L-Acoustics so that the client could see we were providing them with the right solution.”

One of K2’s key benefits for this outdoor project was its full bandwidth range, which easily reaches down to 35 Hz. “Even without a subwoofer, the stadium has plenty of low-end bass response,” he says. “And the sound fidelity and impact with this system are amazing. Directly following the tuning, we walked the stadium and found that there was complete coverage throughout, just like Soundvision had predicted. It sounds incredible.”

Saddleback College Technology Services and broadcast systems director Dr. Anthony Maciel shares Mason’s enthusiasm for the new sports complex’s loudspeaker system. “K2 is a great sounding speaker that packs a lot of punch on the bass,” Maciel notes. “It delivers a very unified sound on the field, and you can clearly hear all the highs and lows. It also has excellent coverage throughout the stadium; there are no empty spots.”

The fast-rising stature of the L-Acoustics brand in the collegiate and professional sports facilities world was another appeal, according to Maciel: “Not only do our K2 arrays sound outstanding, but they are also the same speakers that are now being used at Dodger Stadium, home of this year’s MLB World Series champions, so it was an easy decision to make.”

“The Saddleback College stadium will greatly benefit our students and community. It provides a top-notch complex home to athletes engaged in perfecting their talents while pursuing their educational goals,” he adds. “The L-Acoustics K2 sound system installed by Streamline truly provides a high-quality, professional sound experience at the venue and will help bring a high level of energy and excitement to all of our events.”