LONDON — Twickenham Stadium, England’s National Rugby Team stadium, recently raising its seating capacity from 75,000 to 82,000 and updated its audio system as well using D.A.S. sound systems. Sysco performed the upgrade, led by Hugo Roche. Roland Hemming, an audio consultant and job project manager who also works for D.A.S., was also involved with the project. Hemming also works for D.A.S. Audio’s distributor for the U.K., Sennheiser UK. The RFU (Rugby Football Union) contracted an independent consultant firm, Vanguardia Consulting, directed by Jim Griffiths, to supervise the install. On site consultants working for Vanguardia were Mark Murphy, John Staunton and Mike Bedford. To complete the install, Sysco used 22 kilometers of cable and seven different delays to ensure that the whole system was synchronized.
The stadium recently hosted a match between rival teams from Oxford and Cambridge, and Jack Palacio, D.A.S. export director and Eva Argandona, sound engineer and project designer joined Roche, Hemming and others on site.
“There were acoustic shadows in the rows of seats below the balcony where live sound could not be heard and this problem really needed to be solved,” Argandona said. “So we decided on systems from the Arco and Artec series since their actual size and shape make them ideal for under-balcony positioning. We wanted to deliver excellent message intelligibility with these systems and we did exactly that. This type of event calls for clear and precise messaging.”
The project included the use of Ease 4.2 acoustic prediction software, and following the simulation, the designers opted to use 168 model Arco 24 systems to cover the rows of the lower tier and 168 model Artec 26 units for the middle tier for optimum SPL and uniform coverage for the audience in this type of venue. The Arco 24 and Artec 26 units were all positioned horizontally with a four-meter distance between them. Both models are designed to meet IP-54 standards for outdoor use.
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