Guadalajara, Mexico (October 11, 2010)– Mexican First Division soccer team Club Deportivo Guadalajara SA de CV recently opened its new 45,000-seat Stadium, which sports a d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system.
The team, known as Chivas to its fans, has made a new home for itself in the stadium, which is nicknamed the Volcano. The name is well chosen; designed by architect D.Pouzet, Chivas’ Stadium rises from the ground, its massive, conical, grass-covered slopes topped by a grandstand roof structure that appears from afar to be nothing less than a ring of cloud atop the corona. Comments from the press have been entirely positive.
“They told us the quality of the stadium is outstanding, and that this is mirrored by investment in the infrastructure,” said Guillermo Gutierrez, director of OML Entertainment. “They said the choice of the d&b audiotechnik brand for the PA system was definitely the correct one taking into account the results observed.” A subsidiary of Omnilife, which owns the new stadium, Gutierrez and his company OML created the system. “Many people from the public told us that they were happy that finally they were able to understand what was announced over the PA system.”
The PA system is entirely based on d&b Q-Series loudspeakers. “The roof of the grandstand is a fabric-covered ‘bird wing’ design with low-loading capacity, so size and weight were a strong determinant,” said Janko Ramuscak from d&b’s Application Support department after the commissioning of the system. “The180 Qi1 loudspeakers hang from 20 points around the 600-meter circuit of the stadium canopy. The great advantage of this installation is that the way it works here; the Q arrays are more or less equidistant from front and rear rows of the grandstand seating below. Pretty much every seat that each array has to cover is in the region of 30 meters away. Obviously the SPLs are higher in the middle seats, but only by a little, and no fill loudspeakers are needed for the front rows.”
The equipment was supplied by Hi Tech Audio—which represents d&b in Mexico—led by Director Antonio Benita, and installed by OML. “Antonio’s guys were very well organized, fast and efficient; they managed very well,” said Ramuscak. “As with all stadium openings, it seems there is always a great deal to complete at the last minute; Guadalajara was no exception. Because of pressures outside the audio remit, our time to fine-tune the system was very limited; even so, we got the STI values quite good, even with the stadium empty. When we came for the opening exhibition match against Manchester United, it was very impressive.”
This speed of completion was dependent on the technology, as Gutierrez explained, “From the beginning of the installation process, we understood much better how strong yet simple the d&b R1 Remote control software is that communicates between the amplifier racks and the control room. We also learnt many things about digital technology, not just from d&b but also from Hi Tech Audio who brought the fiber optic system to distribute the control and audio signal over very long distances. This way, signal loss and noise were eliminated; the R1 and the fiber optic combination gave us results far better than expected.”
The opening celebration was very loud, withe more than 40 trucks of mortars and explosives deployed around the stadium. Despite such distractions, the home team did win in the end; 3:2. Gutierrez was ecstatic: “For such a small cabinet, the Q exceeded all expectations, and provided incredible SPL without loss of quality. I want to express my gratitude to d&b audiotechnik, specially Janko, and of course, to the Hi Tech Audio Staff, Jesus ‘Chucho’ Díaz and Enrique Anguiano, as well its Director Antonio Benita for all support received from the very beginning of the project two years ago.”
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