When Asimetrik was called in to work on the new Baku Stadium the planned audio system wasn't sufficient to provide good coverage. Anna Mitchell looks at how the Turkish integrator changed the sound of the venue that will host this year's first European Games.
Just over two years ago work began on Baku Stadium, an ambitious multi-purpose venue that would provide Azerbaijan’s capital with a facility to host football matches and athletic meets as well as the site for the 2015 European Games and associated opening and closing ceremonies.
The stadium, built to Olympic standards, was designed by Korean architecture firm Heerim and Anel, the electrical contractor, brought in Asimetrik to handle specialist audio requirements and broadcast infrastructure.
Görkem Çelikbilek, vice president of Asimetrik and lead on the Baku project, said: “Initially Heerim designed the sound system for the tribunes and the seating but there were some areas that would have lacked coverage with the plan.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Anel and we put forward a proposal for the project and won the contract to supply audio systems. The principle between our design and the original system is the same but the quantity of the loudspeakers was significantly changed to cover all the tribunes and improve speech intelligibility.
“Initially we worked with audio consultants and made simulations of the stadium over EASE. We pinpointed gaps in the initial design and areas where the tribunes were not covered well in terms of SPL and intelligibility.â€
Çelikbilek explains that the plan was cover all tribunes from a single point. “In Baku the roof is 67m in height,†he continues. “Therefore, we had to come up with a custom design.â€
Asimetrik designed the system around RCF 65A line-array loudspeakers and worked with a German engineering company to create custom frames that allowed it to mount 17 units of RCF TTL55 and ten units of TTL65 and cover the very wide angle of the tribunes.
To learn more about the sound system and broadcast equipment installed at Baku Stadium read the full article in the digital edition of InAVate magazine. If you are not already registered then follow the quick sign up for your free subscription and immediate access to this article and the InAVate archive. Tech Spec
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