The measures follow months of preparation and research by leading Dutch music promoter MOJO Concerts, TM Audio of Holland and acoustic engineers Peutz, and will result in a substantial improvement for speech and music intelligibility and quality.
To improve the quality of the acoustics, reverberation time in the stadium will be reduced by using thousands of square metres of special sound absorbent materials on the roof and on the walls. The material was selected after the excellent results achieved with its use in the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam famous for its unparalleled acoustic qualities (see forthcoming issues of L&SI magazine).
The other half of the project sees the installation of a new digitally-based, high power audio system, comprising more than 200 Martin Audio W8LM line array enclosures and a Peavey MediaMatrix Nion signal distribution system. It's designed to deliver superb sound to every member of the stadium audience, during matches, events and concerts, on both the upper and lower seating levels. The sound system is customised and engineered for the particular shape of the Arena, and different sections will be on different sends, each controlling a cluster of loudspeakers.
Uniquely, each loudspeaker cluster is also physically rotatable, allowing the entire system to be precisely aimed for best possible results during every type of event from matches to concerts. The design will ensure that the sound reaches the audience directly and with minimal reverberation providing a perfect 'plug and play' delay system for concerts (quickly reconfigurable in MediaMatrix and with physical cluster rotation) for any stage location, as well as drastically improving sound quality during football matches.
Months of preparation and research by the combined team led to the final design, using computer simulation and the thorough experience and knowledge of team members involved.TM Audio will install the new audio system during spring 2006, and the installation will be covered in detail in a future issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine.
(Lee Baldock)
