"As a long-time provider of large scale, all-weather loudspeaker systems, we have had a long association with the Winter Olympics", commented John Wiggins, Community's vice-president of business development. "In Turin 2006, Community loudspeakers were installed in three of the major venues. This year Canadian contractors have installed many more Community loudspeakers, not just in host venues but also in numerous practice venues. There's been a major focus on these venues' longer term benefit to their communities."
The Speed Skating Oval in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond is the first Olympic venue to install Community's Entasys compact three-way, full-range, weather-resistant column line-array loudspeaker system. Entasys is used in several areas where wide coverage and tight vertical dispersion are needed for spectator coverage in difficult acoustic environments.
The Vancouver Olympic Centre/Vancouver Paralympic Centre at Hillcrest Park is one of the signature venues of the 2010 Winter Games, home to the Games' competition curling events. The venue will become a legacy facility for the residents of Vancouver, with a new community centre, ice rink and curling club, as well as a library, preschool, field house and offices. The venue's permanent sound system incorporates Community R1, Cloud6 and Cloud12 loudspeakers.
For 17 days, the Richmond O Zone is an official celebration site of the 2010 Winter Games. Covering over 60 acres in the heart of the city centre, the site features mammoth ice art, massive high-definition screens, outdoor ice skating, entertainment, art, athletes, exhibits, food and fireworks. The Richmond O Zone sound systems were designed with Community R1, R.5 and R2 loudspeakers to provide the coverage, sound levels and excitement expected of an Olympic site of this stature.
Other notable new venues of the 2010 Winter Games include Trout Lake Ice Rink, hosting the figure skating training sessions, and Killarney Community Center, currently used for short track speed skating. Both venues will become local public facilities after the Games, outfitted with powerful Community iBOX iHP1596 two-way loudspeakers for full-range entertainment and high intelligibility speech.
The Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports facility includes a hockey arena and various practice facilities, and is outfitted with Community R.5 full-range, all-weather systems for high intelligibility and well-controlled audience coverage. And West Vancouver Spirit Square provides visitors a facility to watch CCTV broadcasts of the Games in a heated and covered Atrium. A combination of Community iBOX iHP1200 Series and Cloud12 loudspeakers provide quality audio for the diehard Olympic faithful.
(Jim Evans)
