A Look At The Sphere Las Vegas Holoplot Sound System

By now just about everyone has heard about The Sphere in Las Vegas, the next level event venue that takes both the audio and visuals to a completely new level. The reviews so far have been fantastic, and it seems like a great reason to make a pilgrimage to Las Vegas just for the experience.

The Sphere in Las Vegas features what many say is the most advanced concert-grade audio system in the world called Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by HOLOPLOT. If HOLOPLOT is new to you, it’s because the company isn’t one of the old school sound companies or concert gear developers as it’s only been around since 2011. That said, the custom-built Sphere sound system was specifically developed for Sphere’s unique curved interior, with the idea of providing clarity and precision to every guest regardless of where they’re seated.

The system is massive as it consists of approximately 1,600 permanently installed and 300 mobile HOLOPLOT X1 Matrix Array loudspeaker modules that includes a total of 167,000 individually amplified loudspeaker drivers. The entire sound system is completely hidden behind Sphere’s 160,000 square foot interior LED display plane.

The Matrix

The X1 Matrix Array consists of two speaker cabinets. The M96 consists of 96 speaker drivers – 18 5″ cone drivers and 78 1.3″ soft-dome tweeters along with six 16 channel amplifier modules (one amplifier for each speaker). The ported M86-S is a three-way system consisting of one 18″ subwoofer, 16 5″ cone drivers and 64 1.3″ soft-dome tweeters. It has five 16 channel amplifier modules. Each speaker in either cabinet can be individually controlled and can provide up to 12 individual beams in each array.

The reason behind this pinpoint control is to utilize HOLOPLOT’s next-generation 3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis technology to transform how audio is delivered in a large-scale venue like the Sphere. This results in controlled, consistent, and crystal-clear concert-grade audio for audiences of up to 20,000 people, providing each audience member with an exceptional and personalized listening experience.

Concert sound has come a long way from the days when just throwing up a few cabinets on each side of the stage was the norm. Most concert systems are very sophisticated these days, but the HOLOPLOT system at The Sphere seems to have jumped several levels. Like I said, even if you don’t like Vegas (that includes me), it’s worth the trip just for this experience.

As you can imagine, there’s so much more to this system than what’s written above. Dave Rat of Rat Sound takes us a little more in depth in the video below.

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