Now a world-class stadium, Croke Park is the largest stadium in Ireland and the fourth largest in Europe. The AXYS Intellivox products were specified by Symonds to fulfil the PA/VA needs of Phase four of the redevelopment. Work began at the Northern (hill 16) end of the ground in October 2003. The ambition of the Association was to provide an ultra-modern terrace with the highest standard of facilities for spectators. The fully redeveloped hill will be in use for the 2005 championships with a capacity in the region of 13,000, bringing the overall capacity of the stadium to 82,500.
The AXYS Intellivox 808 products were chosen by the acoustic consultants on the project, Symonds, because they met the strict architectural and environmental (noise pollution is a big issue as the stadium is in the centre of a residential area) requirements of the project. The Intellivox 808 varies from the standard Intellivox range as it has six 6.5" drivers and two 2" compression drivers, allowing it to produce substantially more SPL (max SPL 101dB at 30m), than a standard Intellivox product whilst at the same time having an extended frequency response thanks to the presence of the compression drivers. The units come with an 8-channel DSP controlled amplifier that allows the user to electronically manipulate the vertical dispersion of the array ensuring the directivity control necessary to produce an even SPL over the listener area whilst at the same time minimising the spill into other areas of the stadium and the adjacent housing. In addition to this the RISC processor that is included within the amplifier provides the monitoring that is essential for modern PA/VA installations.
Meanwhile in London, Duran Audio has supplied London-based installation company Green-I with two AXYS Intellivox 2c-XLs for the Great Hall at London's Institute of Civil Engineers. The Intellivox cabinets are used primarily as the loudspeakers for the speech reinforcement system for conferences and other events that take place in the Great Hall. AXYS Intellivox products were primarily chosen for this project for their ability to deliver a superior level of speech intelligibility within this challenging acoustic space. The company's experience in this type of space came to the fore on this project combining superior levels of speech intelligibility with their sympathy for the architectural integrity of the building. "The architecture of the Great Hall is very important as it is a graded interior," commented Nick Screen of DAUK. "We [Duran Audio] have built a reputation for not only delivering highly intelligible solutions but also providing systems that have the minimal impact on the architecture of a space. Many sound systems within reverberant spaces are seen but rarely understood, our approach is the complete opposite, and where possible we try to offer invisible understanding."
(Lee Baldock)
