Iceland - Located in what many people know as Gardentown, Stjarnan F.C. is an Icelandic football club that is part of the KSI Premiere League. For their home games, the stadium had previously used various portable PA systems for announcements. This situation resulted in inconsistent sound quality, creating a most frustrating experience for both the announcers and the fans alike. Recognising the need for a better solution, stadium management recently elected to deploy a more permanent solution-one that was drawn from the catalogue of D.A.S. Audio.
Garðabær based Northern Lights Audio, a design/build firm specialising in audio, video, lighting, security, and heating solutions for both the professional and residential markets, was contracted to design and install the stadium's new sound reinforcement system. Þorsteinn Halldórsson, the firm's owner discussed the project and his reasons for installing the D.A.S. Audio equipment.
"As most events of this nature cater to crowds of about 2,500 people," explained Halldórsson, "we elected to install four of D.A.S. Audio's DR-12 2-way, full-range loudspeakers along with two BiDriver Plus systems, which are two-way, mid-high units designed for long throw applications. A D.A.S. Audio DSP-26 stereo/mono processor handles loudspeaker management duties and D.A.S. PS-1400 stereo power amplifiers drive the speakers."
Halldórsson reports an announcers' area was established that also serves as the storage area for the amps, processor, and mixer, which accommodates inputs for a Byerdynamic wireless microphone plus a local microphone. The four DR-12 loudspeakers are equally placed throughout the stadium's rafters while the two BiDriver Plus systems provide coverage for the outside parking area and the staging -concessions area.
"The current setup was installed in May and already there are plans to expand the system," Halldórsson says. "Shortly, we will be adding two additional BiDriver Plus systems for the field and the back area. This was a pretty straight-forward installation and I must say that D.A.S. Audio representative Claus Behrens and his team was very supportive. Any questions we had were answered expediently."
With the first round of the project up and running, stadium management, the announcers, and the fans are all reporting a dramatic improvement in the ability to understand the announcements coming through the sound system. "Sound quality and, in particular, speech intelligibility are dramatically improved," says Halldórsson.
(Jim Evans)
(09 August 2012)
