Thailand - Opened in 1945, Bangkok’s Rajadamnern Stadium – the oldest Muay Thai stadium in Thailand – stands as one of Thailand’s most revered sporting venues. Known as the birthplace of Muay Thai (Thai boxing) as a globally recognised professional sport, Rajadamnern is the world’s first dedicated Muay Thai stadium and has played a pivotal role in shaping the sport’s rules, cultures, traditions, and global reputation. The venue also stands out for its one-of-a-kind circular design, ensuring an unobstructed view from every seat.
While the stadium’s historical significance remains unchanged, the grand vision of the Rajadamnern management team was to establish the venue as a premier global destination for sports and cultural experiences. Their mission was to create something unique; the time had come to reimagine the Rajadamnern experience – especially its AV systems – to bring the venue in line with modern expectations.
To celebrate the stadium’s 80th anniversary in 2025, the management team conceived the idea of the world’s first ‘Immersive Muay Thai’. To help bring this vision to life, they enlisted production specialist Andrei Mazuruc of ShowOne Productions in Canada to lead the project. Rajadamnern and Mazuruc chose to work with KV2 Audio for the audio system, which was supplied and installed by KV2’s distributor, Audio Gears in Bangkok.
According to KV2’s technical support director for APAC, Leo Tanzil, the design turned out to be more of a challenge than he had anticipated. “Rajadamnern had a really bold vision for transforming the stadium to deliver a one-of-a-kind sporting and cultural spectacle, the world’s first full-on immersive Muay Thai experience,” recalls Tanzil.
“On paper, the audio design looked as if it would be pretty straightforward – we just needed to hang four loudspeakers above the boxing ring facing each of the four quadrants – but no… Andrei quickly shot that idea down as he didn’t want anything above the ring at all. Even the rigging from the previous audio and lighting system had to go. So, it was back to the drawing board…”
In fact, Rajadamnern and Mazuruc’s grand design saw the dome as a giant screen, like a planetarium, which meant that visually, there could be nothing that would impede sightlines or cast shadows on the projection – yet the audio system had to be powerful enough to provide crystal-clear commentary to every seat in the house as well as compelling immersive surround sound to elevate the atmosphere and energy of the fight.
“This was a real challenge,” admits Tanzil. “A design based on a distributed system of perimeter loudspeakers around the dome wasn’t going to work either as Andrei wanted the ring master’s commentary to sound as if it was emanating from the ring – in other words, to be properly localised to the source – in addition to great immersive surround sound. And of course, the system had to be as compact and unobtrusive as possible.”
After modelling various options, it became clear that a solution based on KV2’s EX28 2.5-way full range active loudspeaker system would solve all the problems: “EX28 came to the rescue,” affirms Tanzil. “This loudspeaker is small enough to be placed at the corners of the boxing ring without intruding on the action, yet powerful enough to cover the whole stadium. Combined with the surround sound loudspeakers (also EX28s) with the proper processing, we were able to create the illusion that the sound originates from the boxing ring and minimise the effect of the reflection from the room.”
A total of 24 KV2 EX28s were used throughout the stadium; a pair of loudspeakers mounted on custom poles at each corner of the ring combined with a further 16 EX28s distributed around the perimeter deliver a clear, dynamic audio experience to every seat. Eight KV2 VHD 2.18J subwoofers provide high-energy low-frequency reinforcement, and the system is driven by eight KV2 VHD 3200 amplifiers which maintain sonic integrity even at high volumes.
“In surround mode, each of the perimeter EX28s gives wide enough coverage that the surround sound effect can be heard by everyone in the audience, no matter where they are seated,” continues Tanzil. “When paired with the distributed sub arrangement, even the low-mid frequencies can be localised in surround mode; yet in stereo mode the sub arrangement gives even coverage throughout the venue.”
For control and distribution, Audio Gears installed four NST Audio VMX88 processors alongside two Netgear M4250 12M2XF network switches and a Drawmer DA6 distribution amplifier, ensuring flawless communication between all components of the system. The stadium’s existing Midas M32 Live digital console was equipped with a DN32 Dante expansion card and incorporated into the new system, ensuring a smooth transition for sound engineers already familiar with the equipment.
By December 15, 2024, the installation was complete, just in time for the stadium’s grand reopening on 21 December, a grand event to celebrate going into the 80th anniversary of the stadium. With its audio upgrade, Rajadamnern Stadium has reinforced its reputation as the ultimate destination for Muay Thai while also cementing its place on the global stage.
