Chesapeake Energy Arena

Opened in 2002, city-owned Chesapeake Energy Arena is an 18,000-seat multi-purpose venue in downtown Oklahoma City and is best known as the home to the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder. But when the Thunder are rolling on the road, the arena plays host to ice hockey, wrestling, rodeo, and live concert events.
CEA features retractable seating on the main floor to accommodate a variety of seating configurations, as well as drapes to close off upper deck seating for smaller events. Arena acoustics are usually tricky, and introducing variable seating made things even tougher.

Consultants Marsh/PMK sought a sound system that could readily accommodate a spectrum of event types without burdening the operators. Fitted above the scoreboard, the system had to provide stellar performance and consistent coverage for any of the seating configurations.

Working with hometown system integrator Ford AV, Marsh/PMK specified 40 Anya modules, deployed in four arrays of two columns each. Anya is a high-powered device with a flexible dispersion pattern, which Stevens leveraged to get coverage of the whole venue with little need for fill or delay speakers.
The system’s self-powered design was invaluable in speeding installation to meet the very aggressive schedule, as well as reducing space and cabling needs. Anya’s high output capability meant that the columns never needed to be longer than six modules to cover the entire venue. Anya’s 35 Hz to 18 kHz operating range is sufficient to meet the requirements.