HUDIKSVALL, SWEDEN – SEPTEMBER 2012: Hudiksvall is a medium-sized city of 15,000 on the Gulf of Bothnia, and one of its major attractions is Hagmyren, a horse racing track situated north of the city’s center. The main track at Hagmyren is 1,000 meters, and the sprawling area that the public uses to watch the races, and to enjoy the facility’s other events, covers seven acres and can comfortably accommodate the city’s entire population. In addition to races, Hagmyren hosts fun events, like car bingo (where participants sit in their cars and play bingo) and horse exhibitions. Because of its multiple uses and because quality sound reinforcement was deemed an important component of the track’s continued success, the track sought to renovate its aging system. A new system centers on a pair of Symetrix’ newly-released SymNet Radius 12×8 processors, which feature open-architecture programming, fixed I/O, Dante networking, and a competitive price.
“These days, a modern horse racing track depends on excellent sound reinforcement that is flexible and easy to use,” said Börje Jälmefors, sales manager with Visono Media AB, the company that sold the SymNet Radius 12x8s. “There are many other amusements vying for people’s attention and money, and horse racing is competing with them. Moreover, the races are broadcast around the region and around the globe, so the sound quality must be superb.” The requirements set forth by the track owners were that the new system must be future-proof, scalable, flexible, and intuitive to operate, even for a non-expert. The track owners hired sound installation company DAT AB to develop and install an appropriate solution. “After investigating the options available on the market, DAT AB recognized the advantage of going with the SymNet Radius 12×8,” said Jälmefors. “A pair of SymNet Radius 12x8s could handle all of the processing, sharing signals via the Dante bus, at a very competitive price point.”
Inputs to the system include the referee’s wireless microphone, the commentators’ microphones, a paging system, various pre-recorded music feeds, audio from various pre-recorded video feeds, and output from a live mixing console. Both of the Symetrix SymNet Radius 12x8s accept either mic-level or line-level inputs. Because they are networked together via the Dante bus, signals input to one unit can be sent to the output of the other unit with truly negligible latency. Their combined sixteen outputs feed a rack of QSC amplifiers, which power loudspeakers by TOA, RCF, and Phillips throughout the facility in appropriate zones.
“Robert Nilsson of DAT AB told me that the two SymNet Radius 12x8s, with their built-in Dante bus, made it easy to meet all of the complicated requirements of this installation,” reported Jälmefors. “For my part, I have been working with Symetrix equipment for twenty years – including an installation I did a few years ago on another horse racing track that used Symetrix open-architecture DSP – and so I feel very confident recommending Symetrix. The Dante bus used by the new SymNet Edge and SymNet Radius system is easy to set up and represents an excellent standard for installed, live, and broadcast audio.”
Currently, users control the system via Symetrix modular wall panel remotes – the ARC-SW4e and ARC-K1e. “We are very satisfied with the solution Robert Nilsson came up with,” said Mats Österberg, the manager of Hagmyren. “The most crucial aspect for us was a control interface that is user-friendly and easy to understand. The wall panels Robert gave us meet that requirement.” Jälmefors added, “There are so many user control options available for the SymNet Radius 12×8 system. They range from a simple contact closure to the range of ARC panels and from the customized SymVue computer interface to many third-party solutions. But the staff at Hagmyren is most excited about Symetrix’ ARC-WEB, which places user control of the system on any smartphone! DAT AB will give them ARC-WEB in the coming months.”
ABOUT SYMETRIX Sound professionals rely upon the performance, value and reliability of audio mixing, routing and processing products from Symetrix. For more information on Symetrix professional audio products, please visit www.symetrix.co or call +1 (425) 778-7728.
