Flyover Attractions, known for transporting guests to the planet’s most epic places through exhilarating flying journeys, is taking its commitment to excellence to new heights with the installation of multi-channel amplifiers from industry-leading German audio technology manufacturer Innosonix in their latest Flyover attractions in Las Vegas and Chicago, as well as retrofitting them in their original Vancouver, Canada location.
This new project aims to elevate the sensory experience by allowing visitors to dip, dive and glide over awe-inspiring landscapes from the comfort of their seats enhanced by crystal-clear audio and dynamic soundscapes, all without leaving the legendary neon-studded Las Vegas Strip.
“The main thing we were looking for in amplification to power the in-seat component of our immersive sound system was a high-density, multi-channel, low power amplifier with Dante input. There are plenty of sub-100 watt amplifiers out there, but very few with more than four or eight channels,” said Flyover Attraction’s Global Director, Construction and Entertainment Technology, Eric Sambell. “For us it was as much about the simplicity of only needing one device for each ride vehicle, thereby avoiding additional signal and power distribution, and also being easily rack mountable, as it was about price.
“We were immediately impressed with Innosonix’s responsiveness after our initial contact. We quickly knew we had found a valuable relationship with people who really cared about their product, not just another company moving gear,” he noted.
Flyover’s application is quite specific in that multiple amplifier channels are used to individually drive a large number of JBL Control 23 speakers located behind the seats in each of the ride vehicles to provide a near field accompaniment to the big screen visuals. Each one of these vehicles has between five and ten seats, with each seat receiving audio from a stereo pair of speakers and with an amplifier channel dedicated to each speaker. Given that these numbers stack up fairly quickly to complete the total specification, Sambell opted for the 24-channel MA24/LP² and 24-channel MA24/D² MAXX series models from Innosonix. The LP² 1U offering is capable of delivering 50 watts per channel at 4Ω, the D² 2U offering is capable of delivering 280 watts per channel at 4Ω. Both space-saving models have comprehensive onboard DSP.
“In previous installations we used analogue 12-channel amplifiers with unbalanced Dante interfaces as it was the only reasonably priced option to accomplish what we needed,” said Sambell, “but because the ride vehicles have multiple VFDs we had considerable challenges with hum. Since the professional grade manufacturers at the time didn’t have the power density we needed, offering at most only 8 x 300 watts, we used a lower end commercial unit that had significant reliability issues.”
Innosonix amplifiers proved to be real breakthrough for Flyover Attractions because they provided not only a high-quality product but also exactly the right amount of output and number of channels. The built-in Dante interface and the per channel level and DSP, combined with the high-power density and compact form factor made the MAXX series amplifiers ideally suited for Flyover’s application.
“The irony is that with the old analogue system we had to rely on the individual level controls, but since changing to the Innosonix amplifiers they are so consistent we don’t need that adjustment anymore,” explained Sambell.
“We’re very pleased with the company and the amplifiers. The product has been great and the service excellent. They really filled a gap and are a great complement to our main speaker system.”