The new building, erected on the site of the old Dynamo Stadium in Dresden's Volkspark, cost around 46 million euros - a budget that left the planners and organizers plenty room for a state-of-the-art stadium design. Already, barely two months since the opening of the new arena, their decision has been vindicated, as the stadium has not only proved a magnificent setting for SG Dynamo Dresden's home games but also impressed FIFA authorities enough for them to sanction it as a venue for the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011 and the Women's Under-20 World Championships the following year.
As was the case with Berlin's Olympic Stadium and the Allianz Arena in Munich, the two major showplaces of German stadium design, the planners attached great importance to the quality of the audio systems installed at Rudolf-Harbig Stadium. After putting the installation out to tender and assessing presentations by a number of rival companies, the clients opted for the solution proposed by the Rostock-based sound company Hesse & Partner.
In cooperation with Warnemünde-based Meissner - the two firms had already worked successfully together on the AWD Arena in Hannover and Hansa Rostock's Ostsee Stadium - Hesse & Partner convinced the decision-makers with a combination of ELA equipment from Dynacord and pro audio systems from Electro-Voice. EP Meissner's team of electricians handled the loudspeaker installations and the customer-implemented wiring whilst Hesse & Partner supplied the control centres prior to connecting and commissioning the entire system. This is the first stadium system ever to feature the new DSA8405 multi-channel amplifier from Dynacord with its integrated RCM-810 remote-control modules.
The nerve-centre of the system is a main control centre equipped with three 19-inch racks; this is complemented by a secondary control centre on the other side of the stadium equipped with two 19-inch racks (details below). The two control centres are linked via an Electro-Voice NetMax N8000 using fibre optic cable; the control data is transmitted via Ethernet and the audio data by CobraNet. An analogue backup system for control and supervision contacts offers additional security. In the new main grandstand's Business Club, a touch panel allows audio signal selection and volume control. This panel is also fully integrated into the audio control network via the IRIS-Net software platform.
(Jim Evans)Caption: EV and Dynacord in new Dresden stadium
