ARNHEM, The Netherlands — TM Audio has completed a major audio upgrade at the GelreDome arena, replacing the original amplification and control network. Nearly 70 Powersoft 3904 two-channel 1U amplifiers now drive the GelreDome’s main audio system, with a new MediaMatrix NION system in control.
More details from Powersoft (www.powersoft-audio.com):
In the 13 years since it opened as one of the Netherlands’ premiere multipurpose venues, GelreDome has hosted events from the Euro 2000 tournament to the annual Symphonica in Rosso. Seating up to 35,000 for concerts, this versatile arena’s dual design as a football arena also makes it the 26,000-capacity home of Dutch premier league football club Vitesse. Event specialists The Production Factory act as technical consultants for shows playing in the GelreDome, as they did during its original design phase.
Those 13 years had taken their toll on the original PA system, installed by TM Audio for the opening – in particular the amplifiers, long discontinued and for which spare parts were now unavailable.
TM Audio was called back to recommend both new amplifiers and a major upgrade to the audio network. As in 1998, the requirement was for a multipurpose system to deliver VA/PA, a flexible concert system for both end-on and in-the-round events and a plug’n’play delay system for visiting shows.
Mark van Acker, head of the GelreDome technical division, comments: “We were looking for a good partner to provide a very large number of amplifiers and the control system. TM Audio was a good partner originally and their technical proposal was good this time too; the whole package and price were right. It included upgrading the network from analogue and copper to a fiber optic based system, allowing any diagnostics to be done by them remotely in real time over a VPN.”
The original loudspeaker system of 36 Renkus-Heinz CE-3 MH cabinets and 36 CE-3 Low cabinets is flown in a ring of 18 clusters from the roof, while 14 more CE-3 MH cabinets can be deployed for speech and paging at pitch level.
TM Audio project manager Olaf Landzaat comments: “We decided to use a NION MediaMatrix system for the control, matrix and DSP power for routing. We were also looking for a reliable amplifier to deliver a lot of power in a small space, with integral DSP and networking, so that it could handle any future loudspeaker system.
“The end of that thought process was to use the special abilities of the Powersoft Class D Duecanali amplifier – it can deliver two times 1950W at 4 ohms, so you can basically connect any speaker you want to it, in just 1U of rack space, and with their switch mode power supply and Powersoft’s other technologies it sounds superb. It’s also very ‘green’: its design makes it highly efficient and consumes much less power per watt of output – which is increasingly important to end users these days, especially when they’re running a system on an almost daily basis.”
The Italian manufacturer also provided a custom solution to allow its network-ready amplifiers to interface with the Nion system. “We talked to Powersoft,” says Landzaat, “and they were very happy to help by creating a dedicated software plug-in for the MediaMatrix system so that we can control and monitor the amplifiers. That was important because it also meant the system met the regulations for a voice evacuation system, which is one of its key roles.”
68 Powersoft Duecanali 3904 2x1950W two-channel amplifiers with integral loudspeaker DSP and AES I/O now drive the system from one large double rack in a back of house space, and two single racks mounted on a narrow catwalk that spans the width of the stadium’s roof. Here, the Powersoft package of high power in a small and lightweight unit was a big asset, according to Landzaat: “We wanted the racks close to the loudspeakers to minimize cable runs. With so much power and so many channels from just two racks, they could be fitted on the catwalk without extensive building works.”
In the control room, TM Audio added the Peavey MediaMatrix Nion control system along with a 15.6″ touch screen in the NION rack which provides comprehensive I/O selection, routing / zoning and overall EQ, as well as monitoring.
Landzaat concludes: “The solution really works because we have a great amplifier that doesn’t have coloration – it is an honest amplifier, and the high damping factor has made a big difference to the bass end of the speaker system – it sounds tighter in the low to mid frequencies despite the reverberation in a stadium and more open and clear in the high frequencies. And speech intelligence is better – all good things for the client.”
