The speakers are from a German start-up, Holoplot, that specializes in targeting narrow soundbeams, so each section gets its own sound (per MSG, audio in different languages could even be beamed to different sections).They’ve also figured out how to hide the speakers in the venue’s walls, behind the video display. Those vibrating floors, meanwhile, are all about the bass. “We have developed a haptic flooring system,” says Dibble. “It’s still a bit of a work in progress, but the lowest bass response, instead of being transmitted through the air, is literally transmitted through the floor, directly into your feet or onto the chair in which you sit, and it’s a remarkable experience.”
In addition to musical residencies, MSG is pondering other, more radical uses for their Sphere. Ideas range from esports to “mass gaming” on the big screen (in other words, playing video games with 19,000 of your closest friends) to immersive storytelling experiences that they hope will feel like “VR without the goggles” to… well, the Rockettes. With another Sphere planned for London, MSG’s hopes are high. “Three years from now,” Dolan promised reporters at the ground-breaking, “you’ll say, ‘I had no idea this was what it was going to be.’ It is that crazy and that incredible of a project.”