HELSINKI, Finland — Systems contractor Pertti Krautsuk of Workland specified eight of JBL Professional’s CBT100LA column enclosures as part of the sound system for the Latokartano Sports Hall.
The Latokartano Sports Hall, run by the Physical Exercise department of the City of Helsinki’s Sports Administration, consists of two large areas, which can be combined into a single, larger space.
Schools and sports clubs use the space primarily for volleyball, floorball, soccer and tennis. Mr Krautsuk, who set up Workland back in 1994, selected the CBT Series loudspeakers for their sound quality in terms of both music playback and speech intelligibility.
The Sports Administration issued the contract for the gear and installation once the new building superstructure was complete. “Although the JBL solution was not originally specified, Workland turned to the earlier successful collaborations we have enjoyed with JBL once this became available,” said Ari Hildén of Harman Professional distributor, Studiotec.
“Having seen the visuals and specifications, I was certain that this was the correct choice,” said Krautsuk. “Having heard the system I have to admit that its performance is definitely superior to the alternative model.”
Krautsuk designed two transportable systems, which come into play when the partition curtain divides the room into two independent spaces. Four CBT100 enclosures have been installed down the long walls, so that one
side runs silent and the other with music.
A Crown XLS 602 amplifier feeds two speakers from Channel 1 and two from Channel 2, while the two sections are controlled independently via a Crown mixer.
As part of the CBT (Constant Bandwidth Technology) functionality, these speakers include a switch that selects either long-throw or mid-throw dispersion patterns. Also standard for the series are “Music” and “Voice” settings (the latter featuring a vocal-presence boost) and Dynamic SonicGuard overload protection circuitry, which combats distortion issues.
Despite the inherent reverberation associated with large sports halls, Krautsuk dealt with that “by choosing the correct speakers and angling them in the direction where the sound pressure was needed we could avoid projecting the sound onto the walls and ceiling, thus avoiding the normal reflections.”
Numerous portable JBL systems can now be found in Finland’s sporting facilities and swimming pools—in fact, the Latokartano Sports Hall itself also contains a separate gym where Workland installed JBL Control 28 speakers.
“Both the customer and I are delighted with the new JBL speaker system. No outboard gear was necessary as we were able to use the built-in controls in the Broad Dispersion position to cover the area properly and in the Music position to maximize the low-end power.”
JBL is a unit of Harman International Industries, Inc.
For more information, please visit www.harman.com.
