FEATURE: STADIUM AUDIO xx
Powersoft K3 amps have been installed in Melbourne’s AAMI Park
[KEY POINTS]
The global stadium installation business is healthy, particularly in Asia and Eastern Europe
Venues are prioritising high-quality audio to help satisfy the needs of entertainment as well as sporting events
Loudspeakers need to deliver flexible, highly targeted coverage to accommodate all manner of architectural challenges
Back to basics
Global sports tournaments and a growing number of entertainment events are conspiring to keep the stadium sector healthy. But what are some of the ‘headline’ requirements defining audio design for these increasingly multipurpose spaces, asks David Davies?
STADIUM BUSINESS is big business. More to the point, it’s long-term business, with stadium installations necessarily involving extensive collaboration and consultancy over a period of what is likely to be several years. True enough, new projects of this kind don’t exactly land on integrators’ desks every day. But when they do, they can contribute significantly both to revenue and profile. From powerful processors to the latest integrated PA/VA systems, stadium owners and installers are not short of solutions designed to boost flexibility, cost- efficiency and ease of operation. As this feature will highlight, manufacturers have not been slow to bring to market amplifiers delivering improved cost/performance ratios, loudspeakers offering ever-greater flexibility of coverage, and processing and control solutions developed for ease of integration… all requirements that are set to become even more acute in the future.
18 June 2013
For ease of reference, Installationhas elected to group its featured manufacturers’ thoughts into four priority areas: loudspeaker coverage and durability; amplifier power and size; ease of integration; and customisation. But before that, a few
fundamental questions: how big a contributor is this segment to manufacturers’ overall workload, and what is driving business in and around the major sporting events?
SKETCHES OF STADIUM BUSINESS Countries readying themselves for the global audience-commanding likes of the Olympics or the football World Cup are clearly valuable sources of new stadium projects. But in general, the cycle of renewal and replacement – particularly these days, with benchmark events contributing to increased quality expectations – is such that manufacturers are able to benefit from a steady stream of new developments.
“Obviously, a major, multi- stadium event like the World Cup or the Olympics drives activity in a nation or region,” says Jeff Rocha, president of EAW, for whom stadiums
‘We are also seeing a trend towards high audio quality, especially speech
intelligibility’ Oliver Sahm, Bosch
represent about 10% of its work. “But the world is big enough that just routine construction and renovation continues at a pretty consistent level. Facilities age and they need to maintain a competitive position to be successful.” Oliver Sahm, director tech support pro audio EMEA for Bosch Security Systems, agrees that global sporting events are a significant driver of new business in that they require “new stadiums and arenas or renovation and modernisation of existing sites”. But the exacting demands of non-sporting events also need to be taken into account: “[One consideration] driving stadium projects is the generally increased quality standard for entertainment in such venues, which include audio as an important component. We are also seeing a trend towards high quality, especially speech intelligibility for voice announcements and alarms.” General upgrade duties are highlighted by Scott Kalarchik, director of
engineered systems at QSC, who remarks: “For the last few years we have had around four stadium installations in progress worldwide at any one time. It’s a growing business for QSC, with opportunities in the US, Europe and Asia.” For TOA, “the stadium business continues to be an important one and we register good levels of interest for our voice evacuation systems – which include the VX-2000 and SX-2000SM system managers – in the UK, mainland Europe and elsewhere”, says the company’s Sag Patel, adding that “ease of access and operation” remain the chief priorities behind system design in this area. Stadium projects currently
represent “approximately 5-10%” of Powersoft’s business. The Italy-based manufacturer’s global sales director, Luca Giorgi, identifies the drift towards private ownership as a notable agent of change: “We have seen that more and more stadiums are becoming privately
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Amplifiers should be powerful but of a compact form factor as venues seek to boost space efficiency
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