Despite initial construction on Movistar Arena beginning in 1956, the structure remained unfinished and unused for 50 years. But today, Santiago, Chile’s multipurpose arena at O’Higgins Park has more than made up for lost time. Two years after it opened to the public in 2006, Movistar Chile bought the venue’s naming rights and added 5,000 seats, bumping its capacity to 16,500 and transforming the facility into what is now one of the largest and busiest arenas in South America.
Movistar Arena sold more than 1.4 million tickets in 2024, according to Pollstar, earning it the rank of number four among all arenas worldwide for highest number of ticket sales. With no shortage of top artists and their fans queuing up for shows at the venue, Movistar Arena has utilized L-Acoustics loudspeakers on a rental basis for many of the productions it has hosted since 2019. Now, on the recommendation of its exclusive audio vendor, Bsound, the arena has made a strategic investment in purchasing its own premium L-Acoustics K2 system to offer its visiting acts.
“I’ve been working with L-Acoustics for decades; in fact, I was involved with the first system sold in Chile, so I deeply understand the company’s philosophy, development, and sound quality,” says Bsound Founder and CEO Daniel Vinagre. “Other brands proposed designs for the arena, but the best proposal came from L-Acoustics and, for me, there was no doubt that it was the right one. We required more than just a simple loudspeaker upgrade. Our goal was to have better SPL control, and L-Acoustics clearly offered the best results in terms of SPL, integrity, and coverage.”
Unique Acoustic Challenges in Historic Dome Structure
Movistar Arena’s dome shape presents distinctive acoustic challenges, and government policies preclude any modifications to the original structure since the building is considered historic. Working closely with Francisco Jaramillo at local L-Acoustics Certified Provider Distributor VGL and consultant Salvador Castañeda, who provided the calibration, L-Acoustics Application Engineer Alex Soto created the arena’s initial system design in Soundvision. Bsound’s first-rate audio tech team made refinements to optimize the configuration for their specific needs.
The final system includes main arrays of 18 K2 per side, each backed by a hang of eight K1-SB subwoofers and flanked by a dozen more K2 per side for out-fill coverage. Sixteen Kara II typically stacked in groups of two supply front-fill, while five more Kara II flown per side address the 270-degree seating sections. Low-end is further bolstered by 18 KS28 ground subs in six stacks of three, and everything is driven by LA-RAK II paired with LS10 Milan-AVB switches and controlled by two P1 processors.
With its domed roof and acoustically reflective surfaces, one of the biggest design challenges was controlling low end. “We successfully addressed this by designing a flown cardioid subwoofer setup, integrating the main and out-fill arrays with subs flown behind both arrays at equal distances,” Vinagre shares. “This approach allowed us to gain directional control of the low end, significantly improving the overall system response while working harmoniously with the arena’s distinctive architectural character.”
Versatility for Multi-Purpose Venue Requirements
Although Movistar Arena’s new loudspeaker system is most typically deployed as a left-right design, it can also be dropped and re-flown in a variety of other setups as needed. “The flexibility of this system was also one of the main reasons we chose it,” Vinagre describes. “We can easily repurpose it to do half-arena, 360-degree, and other custom configurations depending on what we’re hosting. This is a very dynamic venue. We not only have rock and roll shows, but everything from tennis matches to circuses as well, so we needed a system that could handle it all. L-Acoustics K2, with its adjustable Panflex directivity, versatile rigging, and reasonably light weight, is a very versatile performer.”
Advanced Milan-AVB Networking Ensures Rock-Solid Reliability
The decision to utilize an AVB signal path was a wise one, Vinagre notes: “We are feeding the audio signals to the system through Milan-AVB, chosen for its stability, and practicality—since each of the two CAT6 cables carries eight audio signals, providing redundancy—and primarily because the audio signal remains in the digital domain, thus avoiding losses due to distance and noise from induction. It has proven to be very successful. In over 100 shows to date, we’ve never needed the redundancy. And even if we did, we’ve already verified that it functions correctly, even when switching to the backup AES system.”
Artist and Audience Acclaim
Anuel AA, a reggaetón singer from Puerto Rico, was the first artist to perform on Movistar’s new system, christening the rig with four sold-out arena shows. Since then, Lenny Kravitz, Toto, Dream Theater, Tool, Sting, Aurora, and many others have played in the venue, including Simply Red, who sold out five nights, the highlights of which will soon be turned into a theatrical release. “Almost every visiting artist and audio engineer has told us that they really love our new system,” Vinagre adds. “K2 is working like a champ—the sound has been incredible and our audiences are absolutely loving what they’re hearing. We couldn’t be happier with our choice of L-Acoustics.”
For more details on Movistar Arena, visit www.movistararena.cl. VGL can be found online at www.vgl.cl.
