As well as offering respite from the recent heatwave in northern Europe, the Spurd-Leeghwaterbad complex provides swimming lessons for all ages, fitness classes, immersive yoga, water gymnastics, assistance for people with disabilities, post-illness recovery and a wide range of fun events for youngsters. One of the Netherlands’ largest swimming complexes, it also has a new Yamaha audio system to support the activities it hosts.
Owned by sports and leisure facility company Spurd, the Spurd-Leeghwaterbad complex has four pools plus a large outdoor sunbathing area with two further pools. A 15m long by 1.5m high, 10cm thick glass wall in the side of the sports pool connects it with the foyer and reception area, creating a visual impact for swimmers as they arrive.
Based in nearby Edam, installation and rental company Boogy Brothers Showequipment is owned by brothers Johan and Ferdinand Boogaard. Having previously installed new audio systems at swimming pools in the cities of Monnickendam and Volendam, making it a logical choice for the system upgrade. Because the audio system is has so many different users, the main request from Spurd was for it to be easy to use. It also had to work reliably in the humid atmosphere, deliver great audio quality and be very flexible in terms of configuration and control.
Having installed Yamaha DME series digital mixing engines many times in the past, Johan and Ferdinand naturally chose the current flagship MRX7-D matrix processor to manage the Spurd-Leeghwaterbad system. It was installed in the building’s central control rack, along with EXi8 and Exo8 I/O expanders and a DCH8 digital controller.
The four indoor pools all had new Yamaha CBR series loudspeakers installed, two CBR12 each in the main and sports pool, four CBR12 in the games pool and four CBR15 (on custom brackets) in the recreation pool. Elsewhere existing loudspeakers were re-used. ‘The CBR series loudspeakers sound excellent, the rigging is good and the plastic housing provides a good IP rating for the humid atmosphere,’ says Ferdinand. ‘We chose CBR15s for the pool where they do Aqua Disco because they wanted enough low end for serious parties.
‘Elsewhere the CBR12s deliver enough low frequencies for the activities held in the other pools but we had to program the MRX7-D EQ to turn down the low end during swimming lessons for small children, because it scared the very little ones.’
The system is programmed with nine zones – the four indoor pools, outside pool, outside terrace, restaurant, foyer and changing rooms. The zones are controlled using four DCP4V4S and two DCP1V4S control panels, each one also having local inputs. These are used to connect a wireless beltpack microphone (for activity instructors) and a Bluetooth receiver, allowing music to be played from a nearby smartphone or tablet.
The existing general paging system was kept, routed via the MRX7-D’s GPI connection, with the matrix programmed to allow the paging microphones to override the audio in each zone, if needed. The MRX7-D is also programmed to put the system to sleep at 11pm each day, and to reset everything when it wakes the next morning.
As well as the DCP series control panels, the Spurd technical department has a PC with Yamaha ProVisionaire Control (Kiosk) installed, plus several iPads with ProVisionaire Touch (Kiosk), to control the system. Boogy Brothers also installed a dedicated PC in the rack with the MRX7-D, allowing remotely identifcation and troubleshooting of any issues that may arise.
‘Spurd and the team at the swimming pool are very happy with the new audio system,’ says Ferdinand. ‘It gets very heavy use every day and the users all understand it. The technical department has a good overview of everything and it sounds great.’
More: www.yamahaproaudio.com
