Sitting at the intersection of France, Germany and Switzerland, the Basel Train Station (Basel SBB) in Switzerland is a primary hub for travel across Europe and is often regarded as Europe’s busiest international train station. With high background and travel noise compounded with highly reflective ceiling and walls, station announcements have struggled for intelligibility since its reconstruction at the beginning of the 20th Century. To combat these longstanding acoustic challenges, Basel SBB called on promedias AG, who installed a PA system based on Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Compact loudspeakers.
Visitors face a wide range of sights and sounds in any busy transportation hub: – arrival, boarding and departure announcements, safety and security information, marketing and services messaging, and the murmur of fellow travellers. Transportation managers are challenged with the need to cut through clutter, capture attention and deliver actionable and perhaps critical safety information to a widespread, quickly moving public. For Basel SBB, the initial sound system and loudspeakers installed were not up to the acoustic challenges of the space.
Basel SBB managers looked to promedias AG to upgrade the sound in one of the station’s larger halls, whch houses two large waiting areas, a cafe, a few small convenience and service stands.
‘Station managers needed to drastically improve the coverage and quality of sound for announcements within the train station,’ says Chris Steiger, CEO of the Zurich-based pro audio distribution firm. ‘The hall is so busy, noisy and acoustically live that it was difficult for passengers to hear and understand announcements. Further, managers were worried that the audio would be inadequate when critical safety or evacuation announcements needed to be made.’
After modelling the hall’s acoustics in software, it became apparent that the new sound system would need to generate sufficient SPL, but that sound dispersion would need to be tightly controlled to keep away from reflective surfaces. Ultimately the promedias AG team specified a set of four Iconyx Compact Series beam steering arrays from Renkus-Heinz; two ICC36/3-RN and two ICC48/3-RN arrays with custom colour finishing to blend into the decor of the hall.
The compact footprint of the Iconyx Compact was also important, as many areas of the station are designated national heritage sites. With the Iconyx Compact’s small footprint, the new sound solution doesn’t disrupt the aesthetics of the space while still providing high intelligibility.
Steiger says that the Renkus-Heinz system was also seamlessly integrated with the station’s existing, automated safety and evacuation system, and the compact arrays have delivered the sound quality and intelligibility SBB management needed.
‘Basel SBB was a challenging project requiring excellent sound quality and installation flexibility to be successful; the Iconyx Compact Series arrays offer the power, specifications, and the small footprint needed to fit the unique installation requirements,’ says Renkus-Heinz European Technical Sales Manager, Michal Poplawski.
‘Renkus-Heinz provides excellent, state-of-the-art systems; they are a great partner and easy to work with,’ adds Steiger. ‘The team was very helpful in creating the custom color finish, and in helping specify an appropriately sized system for the hall. The sound performance of the arrays has been flawless, and we’re now working with management to bring Renkus-Heinz sound solutions into other areas within the station.’
More: www.renkus-heinz.com
