Lab.gruppen's Finnish distributor Noretron Audio Ltd. finalised the deal with Viking Line Abp, which will see the delivery of a total of 27 Lab.gruppen amplifiers to the new M/S Viking Grace cruise ship. Amplification is for a massive 344 units of Turbosound loudspeakers which will be installed in the night club, several restaurants, tax free shop and conference rooms.
Noretron is also supplying all other entertainment audio including digital and analogue consoles, wireless microphone- and IEM-systems.
According to cruise line company's AV Manager Jouni Sironen extreme care has been put into the audio systems in order to deliver crystal clear sound in every part of ship. Lab.gruppen amplifiers have proved to be extremely reliable in other cruise ships of Viking Line, so the decision was easy when choosing the amplifier platform for the new ship.
"We like the Lab.gruppen amplifiers because they sound good, they are reliable, and they are also very lightweight, which is important for us," says Sironen. "We have used Lab.gruppen almost exclusively on our ships for the past 18 years. Recently, the C-Series amplifiers have made our lives a lot simpler with up to eight channels per unit [yielding] opportunities to run two channels to 4 ohms and six with 70V lines. The result is that less rack space is needed. Sound quality, durability, lightness, low power consumption, good service and long guarantees - all of those factors made it an easy choice for us to specify Lab.gruppen on the new ship too."
The ship is being built in Turku shipyard run by STX Finland Oy. She will start operating in January 2013 between Finland and Sweden on the route Turku - Mariehamn - Stockholm.
Jorma Tikka, Noretron Audio's senior sales manager concludes, "This project is challenging and at the same time rewarding. We at Noretron are proud to be part of the project and look forward to a technologically most advanced cruise ship at the Baltic Sea. Cooperation with Viking Line has been smooth since the very beginning.
"The customer had a clear vision of the desired results, which in turn made the planning stages of the entertainment audio systems straightforward for us. Installation, testing and system tuning will take place by the end of 2012. With the professional engineers onboard, we are using the best expertise available in Finland. Thanks to the renowned brands Noretron represents, I am totally convinced that the entertainment audio of Viking Grace will be world class."
(Jim Evans)
