With a place in the Guinness Book of Records for having the loudest fans in the world, Turkish football team Galatasaray needed a powerful PA system for its new new home stadium, Türk Telekom Arena.

The task was assigned to Asimetrik, Turkish distributor for QSC and EAW, which coud gauge its task from the 131.76dB SPL recorded when the tam played local Istanbul rivals Fenerbache in March. While the loudspeaker system called on 46 weather-protected EAW MK series loudspeaker enclosures, the A/V installation comprised a networked QSC system, based around DataPort-equipped ISA and CX amplifiers, and Basis signal transport operating under QSControl.net – all able to help overcome the crowd roar on match days.

Construction firm Varyap-Uzunlar has been awarded the main contract, and appointing Makro-Safir to handle the electrical infrastructure. The A/V infrastructure for the 52,695, all-seat stadium was then subcontracted to Asimetrik. The stadium needed to meet all international standards, including broadcast quality media suites and a compliant evacuation system.

Asimetrik project co-ordinator Kadir Ulusoy proposed his preferred brands supported by Ease acoustic calculations. According to UEFA regulations, the sound system for the stadium needed to be able to generate an SPL of 105dB – however, Asimetrik have managed to create a system capability much greater than this. The overall installation is divided into three separate rings, covering the pitch, the upper and lower tribunes, VIP areas and conference/hospitality rooms – with corridors for public announcements and local PA.

The original intention of re-the club’s old system at the Türk Telekom Arena was quickly abandoned, as the old stadium was only half the size of Galatasaray’s new home, and that in addition to a more muscular PA system they would require a broadcast-standard infrastructure suitable for the world’s media, and an evacuation system that would also meet international standards.

To achieve the required sound levels, Asimetrik specified the weather-protected EAW MK series for the stadium PA, with MK 5366WP (60° x 60°), MK 5364WP (60° x 45°), and MK 5396WP (90° x 60°)° dispersion patterns. The 46 speakers are arranged in pairs around the perimeter of the stands – and since the arena has been designed with two tiers of seating, and a layer of VIP boxes sandwiched between them, one of each pair fires up into the top tier while the other points down into the lower tier. Speakers positioned in the areas behind the goal helped even out the sound pressures.

Helping to optimise the sound are presets stored for full- and half-capacity houses to help control reflections – the presets are recalled depending on the size of the crowd, aided by an automatic sensing structure. Elsewhere, the broadcast/camera infrastructure design supports HD format. There are extensive press and media centre facilities, and also two points for OB vans to connect to. All safety, security, evacuation and fire regulation standards have been met and there is the possibility to control the whole building’s lighting automation from a single PC.

‘The solution we adopted was based on our observations of where the noisiest supporters were generally located at Galatasaray’s previous home, Ali Sami Yen Stadium,’ Asimetrik MD, Mert Kiliççöte, summarises. ‘The EAW approach has proved completely justified.’

Using the HD15 DataPort facilities on the QSC CX amplifiers, Asimetrik set up a QSControl.net network to control the main system, creating two IP-rated rack spaces – just under the roof and in the catwalks. According to Asimetrik’s Technical Supervisor, Erçin Ural, ten CX705 amps are positioned in each rack to drive the PA system – with a QSC Basis 902zz processor handling the network distribution: ‘There are fibre-optic converters in both racks feeding directly to the audio room, which is stationed in the north west corner of the stadium,’ he says. ‘There we have another Basis 922uz processor where we make all the inputs to the system (four channels covering the North, South, East and West stands) – fed from the main mixing desk.’

Helping to optimise the sound are presets stored in the QSC devices for full- and half-capacity houses to help mitigate reflections – the presets are simply recalled depending on the size of the crowd, aided by an automatic sensing structure. Speaker and EQ processing facilities reside in the catwalk racks – and via the QSC environment Asimetrik can conduct full system monitoring, healthchecks and diagnostics. ‘Thanks to QSC we can monitor the entire system via PC – checking the load capacity and retrieving all the information we need,’ says Kadir Ulusoy.

Basis also ‘links’ the main PA with the evacuation system covering the public concourse and ancillary areas, and to this end a further Basis 922uz DSP is located in the south west corner of the stadium. By interfacing with the other PA system ‘brain’ signals can be routed to the respective zones system via the G+M Elektronik APS System to feed the 20 ISA-Ti 2-Channel 100V commercial amplifiers which drive this system – also from two (main and slave) rack locations.

Makro reports that they were delighted with Asimetrik’s work: ‘‘We were able to measure a sound level of 110dB and are entirely satisfied both with these SPL measurements and intelligibility,’ says the project manager. We are entirely satisfied with the system measurements.'

Since this is a multi-purpose arena, the chants of the football fans will make way for rock music devotees in July, when the Türk Telekom Stadium hosts Bon Jovi.

More: www.asimetrik.com.tr
More: www.qscaudio.com
More: www.eaw.com