Powersoft drives Santiago del Estero stadium
- Details
The finished Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades consists of a cylindrical covered stadium with a capacity of 28,000 seated spectators, and includes VIP sections, press booths, spaces for catering, and covered parking for 400 cars, as well as a main access plaza and sports museum.
The Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades is also the first stadium in the country to be designed with the sound system in mind from the early stages of construction stage, making it one of the most future-proof venues in Argentina.
The audio portion of this ambitious project was entrusted to Equaphon Sistemas de Sonido SRL, an Argentine company with more than 45 years of experience in the professional audio market.
“In this type of venue, the safety of the equipment is a determining factor,” said Rubén Branca, Equaphon’s managing director. “Thanks to the different limiters offered by the Powersoft amplification platforms, a very high degree of system security is achieved.”
As of June this year, all Powersoft amplifier platforms have achieved EN 54-16 certification, which provides an extra layer of certainty to the customer as they now meet the testing and performance criteria to be used as Voice Alarm Control and Indication Equipment / Public Address and Voice Alarm systems.
“We’ve been representatives of Powersoft for more than 15 years and have been just as pleased with the performance of the system we deployed at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades as we always are,” added Branca. “The monitoring functions of ArmoníaPlus in particular, such as impedance measurement, allows the operator to verify the operation of all speaker systems at once, which is invaluable in an installation as complex as this.”
The main sound system features stadium voice, emergency, and paging functions, and is divided into a number of distinct areas. The team installed a total of 19 Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D amplifier platforms to cover the majority of the stadium, as well as two Mezzo 322 AD and two Mezzo 604 A for some of the smaller rooms. The audio system is complemented by a Xilica Solaro FR1 DSP and XTouch control system centralising IP audio processing, distribution and management
Covering the grandstand area, eight arrays hang from the stadium ceiling, which were made up of 12 Equaphon-manufactured STS Touring Series V15+ cabinets each. This model is an active line array system powered by a two-channel Powersoft D-Cell504 IS module and has a 10” 500 W neodymium speaker and a 1.4” 160 W neodymium driver.
“As the system was to be permanently hung outdoors, work was done to optimise it for these circumstances,” said Branca. “It became a bi-amped passive box, with a newly designed fixed rigging structure. The amplifier chosen was the Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D, which drives six cabinets at once.”
The system design decentralised the amplifiers by taking advantage of the Dante protocol and the fibre optic ring, distributing them in 11 racks placed at strategic points of the stadium. This minimises cabling, which, in turn, reduces costs while allowing for the maintenance and inspection of the amplifiers without the need to disturb the whole system.
“In the north, east, and south stands, the high tray blocks the coverage of the upper part of the low stalls,” explained Branca. “For that reason, 100 V line speakers are used to reinforce that area, which is amplified by two channels of another Powersoft Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D.”
The indoor areas at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades feature two-way wall-mount cabinets or STS Touring Series Onyx8 two-way coaxial ceiling speakers, both in 100 V lines. These areas and the VIP boxes are driven by three Powersoft Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D and two Mezzo 322 AD distributed in three strategically located racks.
