www.psneurope.com
July 2014 l 47
installation FINLAND
Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte, with 24 clusters of Community R2s
Merger creates Finland’s largest AV company
Audico Systems and Starlike will retain their names under the umbrella of Audico Holding Oy, writes Dave Robinson
functionality for a complex event like the World Cup.” Describing the challenges associated with speech
intelligibility an open-air stadium like Mineirão, Renato Cipriano, partner and general manager at WSDG’s Brazil office in Belo Horizonte, tells Pro Sound News (US): “Our primary facility management concerns focused on the level of sound comfort and intelligibility in relation to the RT60 reverberation time required to meet stipulated FIFA STI [speech transmission index] mandates. We identified extensive sound reflections throughout the arena and concluded that acoustical absorption be installed at the inner ring of the audience sector to achieve the required STI values.”
Cipriano adds that signal distribution was an important factor in the World Cup stadium revamps with which WSDG was involved. “One of the critical aspects is about choosing the appropriate distribution system,” he says. “All stadia require long cable runs to distribute the audio signals. For the Independência, we chose a Stagetec Nexus system that has a great functionality and reliability. At Maracanã, the chosen system was an Electro-Voice Netmax N8000 that run all 24 clusters and has a friendly interface.” The FIFA World Cup final took place on 13 July – although, at the time of going to press, we don’t actually know who was in it. COME ON, ENGLAND! Oh, wait…
www.fifa.com
www.allen-heath.com www.communitypro.com www.clearcom.com www.dasaudio.com www.delec.de
www.electrovoice.com www.lawo.com www.sennheiser.com www.stagetec.com
TWO FINNISH entertainment technology suppliers are merging to form the country’s “largest AV company” in terms of net sales, it is claimed. Audico Systems and Starlike will retain their names under the umbrella of Audico Holding. Starlike owner, Juki Orpana, and managing director, Mika Pynnönen, will both remain with the company, the latter becoming deputy managing director in the new set-up. Other staff will transfer to the service of the new company as existing employees.
Audico specialises in sound systems and turnkey AV system deliveries for schools, shopping centres, cruise ships and more, as well as in the manufacture and import of equipment. The company was founded in 1988 and has a reported turnover
UNITED KINGDOM
Meyer Sound enlisted for WWI soundscape
By Murray Stassen
RENOWNED SOUND artist Bill Fontana’s latest sonic sculpture, Vertical Echoes, brings the horror of the WWI battlefield to the Imperial War Museum (IWM) North in Manchester, UK – and Fontana has selected a remotely powered IntelligentDC system from Meyer Sound to reproduce the chilling soundscape. Vertical Echoes, housed inside a 180-foot (55m)-high tower known as the AirShard, is the first in a series of artistic responses to World War I commissioned by IWM North in honour of the war’s centennial. The installation runs up to 21 September.
The Meyer Sound
loudspeakers were provided and installed by Pro Audio Systems of Bradford, with project management headed by Lee Unsworth.
Recognized as one of the world’s foremost sound artists, Bill Fontana has created sound sculptures around the world since 1976. In 1999, Fontana’s requirement for very small, high-quality loudspeakers for his installation along the Lyons, France, tramway provided the impetus for Meyer Sound to develop the MM-4, the first in the company’s popular line of miniature loudspeakers.
www.meyersound.com www.resoundings.org
The L-Acoustics KIVA/KILO system in the Martinus Concert Hall in Vantaa – a Starlike installation
of €10 million. It employs 35 people in Turku and Helsinki. Starlike is a provider of sound and lighting systems for theatres, concert halls and other performance venues. Founded in 1986, it represents more than 50 brands (including Sennheiser, Renkus-Heinz, Genelec, ARX and Altair) and claims net sales of around €5m, employing 15. “Our product ranges complement one another brilliantly,” says managing director, Harri Leiva. “The merger will bring a great deal
of expertise under one roof, and together we will be able to offer customers even more comprehensive service.” The companies say the deal better prepares their business for the ongoing migration of the AV sector into the realm of IT, where “deeper knowledge is required in addition to traditional competence”. “The company formed… will have strong expertise and experience in delivering demanding AV and event technology web solutions,” says
Mika Pynnönen. “The broader our expertise, the better we will cope with future changes,” he stresses.
The last large-scale company consolidation in the Nordic region occurred in April 2012, when rental equipment and event organiser Eastavab Group (operating in Norway and Finland) agreed to merge with Swedish United Audio Starlight (‘Starlight’) to create a Nordic “super production group”.
www.audico.fi www.starlike.fi
Vertical Echoes sound artist Bill Fontana at the IWM North, Manchester
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