Sopot, Poland-based Mega Music's audio-visual installation division was contracted to handle the stadium's new sound system. Mega Music's Piotr Nowi?ski managed the project and discussed the challenges of the job, which involved the deployment of D.A.S. Audio's DR-12 2-way, full-range loudspeakers, the BiDriver Plus, which is a two-way, mid-high unit designed for long throw applications, and the company's CL-6T ceiling speakers.
"The D.A.S. DR-12's were our loudspeakers of choice to cover the audience seating areas on this project," says Nowi?ski, "as they provide perfect speech intelligibility. Further, the uniform dispersion characteristics of DR-12's enabled us to provide even coverage of the audience seating areas with a minimum number of boxes. The high sensitivity and flat frequency response of the loudspeakers enabled us to achieve a high SPL level with no compromise to sound quality. For the field, the BiDrivers Plus were the right tool, as they provide extreme throw distance while maintaining high sound quality."
The stadium's grandstand areas were divided into 44 zones and for these areas, a total of 84 D.A.S. DR-12 enclosures were placed into service. The DR-12's used for this project were custom built by D.A.S. to the IP54 rating for outdoor use.
The football field was divided into 4 zones and, to cover this area, eight D.A.S. Audio BiDriver Plus loudspeaker systems were placed into service. The Bi-Driver Plus incorporates a co-axial speaker built into a special horn unit and is particularly well suited to applications where a high level of speech intelligibility is required. "With its long throw characteristics, this was the perfect choice for the field areas," notesNowi?ski."
Coverage for the stadium's corridors and select outside areas were addressed by forming another 30 zones. For these areas, D.A.S. Audio CL-6T ceiling speakers were deployed.
"The distributed main audio system that we designed for this project is managed by a Symetrix SymNet DSP processor, networked together via a 4-node CobraNet setup," says Nowi?ski. "The main system is fed by Ashly NE8250PE multichannel, networked amplifiers. Both the SymNet and Ashly amps are controlled via a PC application. Audio mixing is handled via a Crest Audio XR20 analogue mixing desk located in the control room. The corridor areas are run by a Bosh Presidio network controller and Bosh PRS amplifiers."
(Jim Evans)
