Case study

Intelligibility engages fans for an immersive, party atmosphere.

Pride Park Stadium, , UK

With a capacity of nearly 34,000, its status also looking for that feeling of, ‘this is a great “It gives us the best as one of ’s leading sports stadia is in sound system that will engage people and no doubt yet in recent times the performance make them want to have a party’.” acoustic solution in our of its ageing sound reinforcement system has league and arguably raised some questions. The solution in the UK too, having The exacting performance brief and project achieved superb voice Establishing objectives budget prohibited the use of a line array measurements. The Seeking a replacement for the existing solution at an early stage of the design infrastructure – which at nearly ten years old process – the cost being proportional to quality of the system is was approaching end of life, the Club’s the multiple elements required to achieve simply outstanding.“ Chief Technical Officer, Stuart Fisher, the desired vertical coverage. approached leading audio and AV Stuart Fisher, Chief Technical consultancy RH Consulting. As the result Jones reverted to the then new point Officer, Derby County of a tender process involving five leading source cabinet from the V-Series, the Vi7P. loudspeaker brands, d&b won the order. Electroacoustic modelling proved only “We were asked to provide a system three cabinets per cluster were needed to that would be capable of fully tantalizing meet the PAVA specification and allowed Setting the scene the senses,” explains Steve Jones of d&b for the inclusion of a Vi-SUB to extend the The home ground of audiotechnik Education and Application performance to low frequencies. side Derby County Football Club, Pride Support. “The club is very ambitious about Park Stadium, has also hosted a number of what it can achieve and is keen to think For the advantages of a point international matches and the FA Women’s outside the box in every area. source solution were clear: it would take up Cup Final since 2000. less space and still exceed the intelligibility “In terms of the new sound system it quickly and SPL requirements stipulated by the became clear that the club wanted a system regulating bodies. For a project where not only to deliver announcements and minimizing weight and aesthetic intrusion were background music effectively – they were important priorities, the Vi7P ticked every box. Comprehensive control and monitoring of the very nicely for the long term future, both in “The club was d&b loudspeakers and amplifiers is achieved terms of its core football commitments and via the QSC Q-SYS platform. potential entertainment events.” looking for that more subjective feeling Northwood explains: “Derby FC has been “It’s a very powerful and versatile system, of, ‘this is a great provided with a fully redundant Q-SYS system and it really is one of those cases where and the amplifiers are fed from two Q-SYS you need to go and hear it for yourself,” sound system that will Cores. The automatic Fallback functions concludes Northwood. engage people and integral to the d&b amplifiers means that signal will fall over from the primary to the The club’s CTO, Stuart Fisher, agrees make them want to secondary frame if needed.” wholeheartedly. “We are extremely happy have a party’.” with the d&b solution, as well as the support With both Hemming and Northwood they have provided during the project - and Steve Jones, d&b Education and closely involved with UK and European continue to provide now. It gives us the best Application Support standards bodies, it’s no surprise that the acoustic solution in our league and arguably new installation offers full compliance for in the UK too, having achieved superb voice PA/VA use. Pride Park Stadium is also one measurements. The quality of the system is of the first UK venues to comply with FIFA’s simply outstanding.“ “The Vi7P offers outstanding headroom, sound requirements for international . power capacity and dynamic bandwidth, These include a stipulation that the system will has exceptional vocal reproduction and it’s provide maximum continuous sound levels also able to withstand the most challenging of not less than 100 dB(A) and peak sound of weather conditions,” explains Jones. “So levels of at least 105 dB(A), with deviations the choice was made to go ahead with 22 in overall direct sound levels across the clusters of three Vi7Ps apiece, located around spectator seating not surpassing +/-3.5 the perimeter of the stadium roof to ensure dB(A). optimum consistency of coverage.” The installation was carried out by Central The decision to replace the active & County Closed Circuit (CCCC) in time to loudspeakers of the former design with the be commissioned and signed off for the first passive d&b units was another important home game against Leeds United on October element of the revamp. 15th 2016. So far client and visitor response is said to be highly enthusiastic, with the “It wasn’t really ideal to have active speakers project team in no doubt that it has effected on the roof for ten years and have to use a dramatic improvement upon the previous a cherrypicker every time you needed to system. access them,” says RH Consulting’s Richard Northwood. “Hence the amplifiers are “I spent a lot of time after the first match now located in four new rack rooms; fully chatting to fans and everyone I spoke to weatherproofed and air-conditioned huts that remarked upon the improved audibility and allow us to keep the cable runs to the clusters clarity of the speech,” confirms Jones. “It is as short as possible.” evident that the system has set the venue up

> System: Vi7P, Vi-SUB, Yi7P, Yi12 and 30D, D80

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