Consultants to the Arts and Culture
ANZ STADIUM
Audio upgrade
"Auditoria was engaged to design, procure, project manage and commission a new front of house PA
system for the Stadium. The project was completed and handed over in June of 2013. The process of selecting the best equipment at the best price and meeting the demands of the stadiums various hirers has been made easy through the professionalism and enthusiasm of Auditoria.
Auditoria’s innovative approach to the design and procurement process has been professional, efficient and of excellent value. Our goal is always to provide the best experience for our customers and our new sound system is regarded as the best in Australia. The quality of the system has allowed
some events to do away with overlay equipment which gives us competitive advantage over other stadia in the country."
Simon Davies
General Manager, Asset Management
ANZ Stadium
Acoustical Modelling
As with all of our projects, events and fixed installations, we used computer modelling to develop our loudspeaker system designs. This environment allows our engineers to evaluate system performance in the space with all acoustical surfaces of the building calculated as part of the
simulations.
Our design process for ANZ stadium began with 18 alternative designs and after many months of refining and optimising, three final design alternatives were presented to ANZ Stadium management. The final design was selected after a listening test in the stadium.
3D mechanical design
Once the sound system is designed it must be integrated into the building architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical designs. This coordination process is highly detailed and ensures a more efficient installation onsite. We use AutoCAD, Revit and SolidWorks to provide 3D blocks to other engineering disciplines for coordination as well as 3D renderings to architects for inclusion in whole building renderings.
Listening test / system evaluation
Three designs were shortlisted for the final round which consisted of a listening test in the stadium. We temporarily installed two arrays of each design (six in total) at the correct horizontal spacing to evaluate the horizontal and vertical coverage.
Due to weight limitations we could only have half of the arrays could be suspended simultaneously. We devised a truss structure to land each array in the seating bowl thereby removing the load from the roof and allowing each pair of arrays to be evaluated separately. The subjective test was conducted with one array of each design to enable fast switching between arrays.
Loudspeaker system installation
The loudspeaker system installation was staged in three phases: the replacement of the hoisting system, the installation of the control and signal transport system and finally the replacement of the amplifiers and loudspeakers.
The first two phases were easy to schedule within the stadium event calender as they didn't involve significant down-time for the audio system. The timing of the amplifier and loudspeaker installation was more critical as each quadrant of the stadium would be out of service during the installation. We programmed the work over a four week peirod with the replacement works for one quadrant occuring each week. The program was ambitious but was successful in providing a fully functional audio system for weekend games between each quadrant changeover.
Audio control system
The system was designed to provide full coverage for a capacity crowd, however there are many more events that do not have capacity crowds and the system must be flexible to deliver sound to the areas needed and mute parts of the system that are not.
The screenshot below shows the main configuration page for the main bowl system. A system technician can fully understand the status of the whole system from this one screen.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The people and companies that made it happen.
Auditoria was engaged by Simon Davies and Daryl Kerry of VenuesLive, the operator of ANZ Stadium. The project was prompted by the existing system reaching end of life and by a strong desire to dramatically improve the sound quality of the system and audience experience.
Our Client
Scott Willsallen and Luis Miranda worked side by side on this project to ensure a first class design and rigorous procurement process. The commissioning of the system was a very satisfying and enjoyable finish to the upgrade.
Our Team
Sydney-based integrator The PA People was awarded the contract to install the audio system and managed to do so in a 4-week period of one quadrant per week.