Yamaha accompanies Santa Claus in the 'Kingdom' he has in Italy

In the experience Santa's Kingdom has installed a complete BMG system, consisting of four MusicCast WXC-50 wireless amplifiers, who are in charge of the sound of the Victorian town, the christmas market, the auditorium and the entrance.

Santa Claus has moved his kingdom to Italy, specifically in Vetralla, a 50 km from Rome. This is an experience called Santa's Kingdom, a space of more than 3.500 square meters dedicated to the magic of Christmas that includes a Christmas market, a Victorian village with an indoor skating rink, an auditorium with festive entertainment and, of course, an area where you can meet Santa Claus.

This entire environment must also be surrounded by a Christmas atmosphere. As Giorgio Aquilani says, owner of Santa's Kingdom, “There is no magic if there is no music”. This year we trusted Yamaha to make the atmosphere even more special, thanks to the quality and stability of its professional sound solutions.

“The client wanted an audio system that offered great quality in all spaces, with 100v line background music for commercial spaces, background music (BGM) at higher sound pressure levels for the ice skating rink and for live entertainment in the auditorium. It also had to be able to integrate existing speakers, be reliable and easy to handle by staff”, explain Stefano Brigliadori about the Musicians – Formello, the contractor who supervised the installation of the system.

The BGM main system consists of four MusicCast WXC-50 wireless amplifiers, supplying individual music to the Victorian people, to the christmas market, to the auditorium and at the entrance. All music is stored in specific maps on a network storage drive (NAS) QNAP TS-231P.

With an XMV8140 multichannel amplifier, have been installed 14 VXS5 surface mount speakers on the Christmas market, 14 VX5 on Victorian village stalls, filling four CZR10 two-way passive speakers and two CXS18XLF subwoofers (all with SPCVR series speaker protective covers) covering the ice skating rink.

CZR/CXS speakers are driven by two PX10 amplifiers, while the CXS18XLFs are processed using the amplifiers' XTD preset, which reduces subwoofers to 29Hz.

The system is managed by an MRX7-D matrix processor with a DCH8 digital controller hub. An EXi8 y input expander for Dante Tio1608-D I/O racks (one in the Victorian village and one in the auditorium) They house the entrances and exits.

Meanwhile, two Stagepas 1K all-in-one portable PA systems are installed in the auditorium to deliver optimal sound for larger performances. Audio comes from two Tio1608-D outputs installed in the auditorium, which means the MRX7-D controls the volume and content, an innovative way to incorporate these non-networked units into the system.

Three DCP4V4S wall panels control the system, two of them programmed with a specific volume control for the animators, which makes its use very simple. The third DCP4V4S is programmed with two preset configurations for the main system.

The ON preset opens all channels and provides BGM in all zones at a moderate volume and allows staff to increase the volume as Il Regno di Babbo Natale becomes more active.

The OFF preset silences the BGM in most areas, but keeps the CZR/CXS system active in the Victorian town, since it stays open later each day than the other areas. The XMV8140 amplifier is put into standby mode by the MRX7-D to reduce power consumption. When turning the system ON the next morning, XMV activates in about two seconds.

Yamaha's DCP Android/iOS wireless app is programmed so you can walk around the site and adjust the volume of each zone, depending on the noise level generated by customers. The system also includes a Windows PC with Yamaha's MTX-MRX Editor, allowing it to be adjusted remotely.