Sydney's ANZ Stadium opts for a standard concert audio system with d&b

With an innovative concept, Sydney's ANZ Stadium, reference in Australia, has launched a system for concerts, those who attend 80.000 personas, Really powerful and complete with vibrant bass in this reverberant space with d equipment.&b.

This idea, that audio engineers have put into practice with varying levels of success for years, through correctly placed delays, Proper array routing and good alignment, now takes on a new dimension in a fixed installation, and especially with the magnitude of the Australian ANZ stadium.

As Simon Davies has pointed out, ANZ Stadium CEO, “Every facility that is well managed seeks to maximize its use and, when the potential of the sport has already been exhausted, We must consider other types of mass shows. Large rock concerts are usually held in stadiums., and ANZ is no exception, and the sound systems that the organizers of these shows bring to our venue are really powerful, but they are intended for temporary use during tours”.

Fixed installation

The only times when systems of this power are installed in stadiums is when major sporting events are held., like the olympic games, or in the case of this stage, when the Rugby World Cup or the Australian rugby league grand finals were held (NRL). “That was the case at the London Olympics., in which the great sound of the opening ceremony had a great impact, But these systems are also temporary - explains Davies -. So we were wondering: Why don't we install this type of system permanently at ANZ Stadium and, besides, we make it affordable? “That is the task we set for ourselves and I believe we have achieved both objectives.”.

Both Davies and the team that manages ANZ Stadium, under the direction of MD Daryl Kerry, They were lucky that the designer of the London Olympics sound system is Australian. “Scott Willsallen (author of some images of this news) began working on this type of facilities at the Sydney Olympic Games and, over the years, has collaborated with ANZ Stadium on special events held here that used the previous sound system.”, Davies points out..

Precisely the knowledge of the premises, In addition to the objectives proposed by the ANZ team, “it allowed us to establish very strict specifications, and Willsallen didn't even flinch. The main restriction of those specifications was to use the pre-existing rigging points and all the cable infrastructure of the previous PA system”.

Bet on quality equipment

The main idea of ​​the project, as Davies summarizes it, is that “we preferred to invest our money in the hardware of the new system than in the infrastructure. Our clients do not value infrastructure, they assume it will be good, but what they live directly, that is, the sound, vision and comfort, are of the utmost importance.".

In the tender prepared by Willsallen, the eighteen best professional audio manufacturers in the world were invited. “Representatives from each of the brands expressed interest in receiving our comments,” Davies recalls.. We examined their initial proposals and they responded to our comments. In addition to the extensive study process carried out by Stefan Goertz, Application Support d&b in Germany, I also took a comprehensive approach to the installation process. It's normal for installers to forge relationships with specific speaker brands, but that does not mean that the best installer for the project collaborates with the best manufacturer, That's why I decided to separate them in the bidding process.. “This is how we get the best installer and the best team”.

Once the decision was made, Willsallen defined the installation with precision and in the final design more than four hundred speaker boxes were hung from&b from the roof of ANZ stadium. “The system that was finally installed was based on d's medium-sized line array system.&b, Series V, specifically the Vi8 installation models, Vi12 and Vi-SUB, and the system was supplied by the Australian distributor of d&b National Audio Systems (NAS) and it was installed by the integrator The PA People”, specify.

V-Series Potential

The V series of d&b was imposed for several important reasons, not only because it was the one that sounded best that day, how accurate Simon Davies: “When I started thinking about renewing the system at the beginning of 2012, Shane Bailey, director of NAS, suggested the new V Series of d&b in its installation variant Vi. From the point of view of stadium requirements, Vi speakers have several essential features, especially the fact that they are totally passive”.

Given the restrictions of rigging points and pre-existing cable infrastructure, “we had a limited circuit of only eight channels at each point. Being passive speakers means we could put more boxes in each position, which is a great advantage. Most arrays cover 130º in the vertical plane, so it offers many advantages by being able to place more boxes. Besides, the two types of full range speaker, Vi8 and Vi12, a 80 and 120º horizontally, respectively, They proved to match perfectly with the overall seating patterns. Besides, the cardioid Vi-SUB is also passive, so if a single box fails, there is no loss of cardioid behavior of the other SUBs in that particular arrangement. Only one circuit to drive two Vi-SUBs: It is an elegant solution”.

This new system was also presented to several managers of the five sports federations that frequent the ANZ, to show them its advantages and potential, with a positive result. As Davies asserts, "the system of d&b was the best choice. I'm not an expert, but the testing and presentation process convinced, placed this system far above all others. About fifty sporting events are held here a year., At least six are full fills and a third fills a 35% of the capacity, so all the managers were very interested. for them, It is an added advantage to have the possibility of communicating even more emotion to the game. What all sports have in common is that people attend competitions because they want to have a good time.. By being able to communicate directly through the high quality sound system that Scott has installed, We have a way to enhance the fun and excitement. “That is the mission of ANZ Stadium and we believe this is the future of sport.”.