Italy - Viola Park, a new modern sports centre and home to ACF Fiorentina football club, recently underwent a full AV system integration including comprehensive K-array audio systems. Nestled amidst the rolling Florentine hills, Viola Park is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of professional footballers at what is thought to be one of the best training facilities in the country.
With 26 hectares of sprawling landscape, Viola Park is the largest sports centre in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. The facilities at the site include 12 regulation pitches and stadiums, gyms, accommodation and medical, media and wellness centres. To complement its world-class amenities, Viola Park sought out a top-of-the-line audio system to enhance the experience for players, spectators and visitors alike.
Systems integrator, Professional Show partnered with Viola Park to deliver the AV experience. Following a demo at the Artemio Franchi Stadium, the former home of the ACF Fiorentina team, Professional Show was selected as the technology partner for the project due to the impressive quality and performance of the products shown, especially regarding the size-performance ratio of the K-array solution.
Aside from the main football stadiums, the project also comprised audio installations at various spaces across the site. In the Media Centre, home to a futuristic press room and digital museum, Professional Show and K-array collaborated to design a system that would meet the architect’s request for an invisible and modular solution and ensure clarity of speech during live interviews. Four Kobra loudspeakers, four Rumble subwoofers and a pair of two linear metres of Anakonda seamlessly blend high-quality audio technology with aesthetics.
The bars within Viola Park, named Maglia ViolaandIl Giglio, boast bespoke audio systems, featuring K-array’s ultra-flat Vyper loudspeakers and Rumble subwoofers, seamlessly integrated through a QSC Audio control system.
In the 3000-seat-capacity Curva Fiesole stadium, Professional Show opted for a KGEAR solution comprising a total of 21 GH12 loudspeakers and seven GS18 subwoofers in each bleacher, rigged discreetly to harmonise with the stadium's architecture whilst providing high SPL for matches and events.
“Drawing from our previous experience with the K-array Mugello system and leveraging the DSP capability of KGEAR GA46 amplifiers, we designed an unconventional loudspeaker reinforcement system that matches the aesthetics of the stadium and guarantees an even coverage of the stands with moderately high SPL,” explains Giovanni Beoni, project manager and sales manager at Professional Show. “We developed a quasi-horizontal step array of GH12 loudspeakers to meet the architectural constraints.
“For each of the seven loudspeaker clusters, the three KGEAR GH12 in-step array configurations are evenly distributed under the ceiling so that the meticulous positioning compensates for the up-tilt angle of the seat coverings. Each GH12 is angled downward with defined tilting angles to maximise coverage across the listening area. Furthermore, each loudspeaker cluster is complemented by a GS18 subwoofer to complete the system frequency response.”
Viola Park's commitment to providing a first-class sporting and entertainment facility is demonstrated through its partnership with Professional Show and the installation of innovative audio solutions from K-array. As the shiny new home of ACF Fiorentina, Viola Park continues to raise the bar in sports facility standards.
"The work carried out at Viola Park has further sealed and strengthened the partnership between Professional Show and K-array,” expresses Beoni. “K-array has proved to be a winning solution for Fiorentina and yet another great project where we were able to collaborate and work together with the K-array team to deliver the highest-quality solution.”
