The advances are not confined to new builds. To prove that an effective PA/VA solution can be grafted onto a listed building, Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow has clusters of Nexo GEO S12 line array modules in each stand, augmented by RS18 sub bass units. More S12s and PS8s serve a balcony in the main stand, while S1210s complement video screens in each corner. It’s all powered by 12 NXAMP 4 x 4 loudspeaker management processors/amplifiers and, frankly, Glaswegian football supporters have never had it so good. Several of Europe’s oldest stadiums have been upgraded, as they begin to reach an age when the romance of the building’s past has to be sensitively weighed against the usefulness of its future. In such cases, discreet systems such as Peavey’s MediaMatrix have a particular advantage: it can be a small, rackmountable processor or a huge distributed system, exploiting Ethernet networks for
routing and distribution via CobraNet. Not that this contradicts the potential of MediaMatrix among the new: nine out of ten stadiums built for the last soccer World Cup in South Africa most definitely expressed a preference for it.
TEAM BUILDING The importance of long throw and wide dispersion is clear but, as Meyer Sound is now saying, new low-voltage solutions can have particular advantages – especially in legacy stadiums. Meyer has forged ahead with the SB-1 and SB-3 parabolic long- throw sound beams, both very directional and claiming high intelligibility at distances of over 100m. But at the Stade Rennais in Rennes, France, the company’s Ultra series has come into its own: Xavier Pitois of Spectaculaires, an event technology company based near Rennes, used MAPP Online to draw up a design that uses over- under clusters of two UPQ-1Ps – 36 in total – for the deeper
Optocore opted for a fibre optic ring solution for an upgrade to Berlin’s Olympic Stadium
“Having properly installed high-quality audio products is the only path to achieve the performance standards
desired today” Luke Jenks, Meyer Sound
grandstand sections on three sides. A shallower grandstand on the fourth side is covered by split front and rear UPA-1Ps, 24 in total. A point-source cluster of two MSL-4 loudspeakers, intended primarily for emergency voice alert, is aimed out onto the pitch. Meyer’s latest initiative
addresses some stadium needs directly, according to Luke Jenks, Meyer Sound’s product