Image of the Arka Stadium seating areas.
Gdynia, Poland – August 2011… Gdynia Municipal Football stadium is the home to Poland’s Arka Gdynia football club. With a seating capacity of roughly 15,139 spectators, the new facility recently received a large, networked audio-driven sound reinforcement system. To ensure even coverage across the stadium’s multiple zones, loudspeakers from the catalog of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio were placed into service.
Sopot, Poland-based Mega Music’s audio-visual installation division was contracted to handle the Gdynia Municipal Football stadium’s new sound system. Mega Music’s Piotr Nowiński managed the project and discussed the challenges of the job, which involved the deployment of D.A.S. Audio’s DR-12 2-way, full-range loudspeakers, the BiDriver Plus, which is a 2-way, mid-high unit designed for long throw applications, and the company’s CL-6T ceiling speakers.
“The D.A.S. DR-12’s were our loudspeakers of choice to cover the audience seating areas on this project,� explained Nowiński, “as they provide perfect speech intelligibility. Further, the uniform dispersion characteristics of DR-12’s enabled us to provide even coverage of the audience seating areas with a minimum number of boxes. The high sensitivity and flat frequency response of the loudspeakers enabled us to achieve a high SPL level with no compromise to sound quality. For the field, the BiDrivers Plus were the right tool, as they provide extreme throw distance while maintaining high sound quality.�
The stadium’s grandstand areas were divided into 44 zones and for these areas, a total of 84 D.A.S. DR-12 enclosures were placed into service. With its rugged Polypropylene enclosure, the DR-12’s used for this project were custom built by D.A.S. to the IP54 rating for outdoor use.
The football field was divided into 4 zones and, to cover this area, 8 D.A.S. Audio BiDriver Plus loudspeaker systems were placed into service. The Bi-Driver Plus incorporates a co-axial speaker built into a special horn unit and is particularly well suited to applications where a high level of speech intelligibility is required. “With its long throw characteristics, this was the perfect choice for the field areas,� noted Nowiński.�
Coverage for the stadium’s corridors and select outside areas were addressed by forming another 30 zones. For these areas, D.A.S. Audio CL-6T ceiling speakers were deployed. Equipped with a multi-tap line transformer for distributed audio systems, the CL-6T is a 2-way passive full range ceiling loudspeaker incorporating a 6.5â€? cone low frequency transducer and a ferrofluid cooled 1″ soft dome high frequency unit with integral diffraction ring.
“The distributed main audio system that we designed for this project is managed by a Symetrix SymNet DSP processor, networked together via a 4-node CobraNet setup,� said Nowiński. “The main system is fed by Ashly NE8250PE multichannel, networked amplifiers. Both the SymNet and Ashly amps are controlled via a PC application. Audio mixing is handled via a Crest Audio XR20 analog mixing desk located in the control room. The corridor areas are run by a Bosh Presidio network controller and Bosh PRS amplifiers.�
With the new sound system in service, Nowiński reports that stadium management, the players, and the fans are all noticing a dramatic improvement in the sound quality. “We getting perfect, uniform sound coverage throughout the audience stands and across the field,� Nowiński proudly notes. “The sound pressure level (SPL-A) ranges between 111 – 113 dB with no significant drops to be found anywhere. Equally important, the sound quality is excellent. We’re experiencing very good frequency range and, remember, there were no subwoofers used on this project. The folks at D.A.S. Audio were a tremendous help with this project—providing quality support in timely fashion— and, together, I believe we’ve created a really impressive system that will serve the area’s football fans for years to come.�
To learn more about Mega Music’s services, visit the company online at www.megamusic.pl.
About D.A.S. Audio
Celebrating 40 years of innovation, Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of loudspeaker systems, power amplification, signal processing, and related components. D.A.S. Audio products are found on tour with the world’s greatest performing artists and installed in many of the most prestigious facilities. For additional information about D.A.S. Audio, visit the company online at www.dasaudio.com.
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