Opened in 1945, Bankok’s Rajadamnern Stadium is the oldest Muay Thai stadium in Thailand. Known as the birthplace of Muay Thai (Thai boxing) as a globally recognised professional sport, Rajadamnern is the world’s first dedicated Muay Thai stadium and has played a pivotal role in shaping the sport’s rules, cultures, traditions and global reputation. The venue also stands out for its circular design, offering an unobstructed view from every seat.
While the stadium’s historical significance remains unchanged, the vision of the Rajadamnern management team was to establish the venue as a premier global destination for sports and cultural experiences. Their mission was to create something unique; the time had come to reimagine Rajadamnern experience – especially it's a/V systems – to bring the venue in line with modern expectations.
In 2025, the management team came up with the world’s first Immersive Muay Thai, and enlisted production specialist Andrei Mazuruc of ShowOne Productions in Canada to lead the project. Rajadamnern and Mazuruc chose to work with KV2 Audio for the audio system, which was supplied and installed by Bangkok-based Audio Gears.
‘Rajadamnern had a really bold vision for transforming the stadium to deliver a one-of-kind sporting and cultural spectacle, the world’s first full-on immersive Muay Thai experience,’ recalls KV2 Technical Support Director for APAC, Leo Tanzil. ‘On paper, the audio design looked as if it would be pretty straightforward – we just needed to hang four loudspeakers above the boxing ring facing each of the four quadrants – but no. Andrei quickly shot that idea down as didn’t want anything above the ring at all. Even the rigging from the previous audio and lighting system had to go. So, it was back to the drawing board…’
In fact, Rajadamnern and Mazuruc’s design saw the dome as a giant screen like a planetarium, which meant that visually, there could be nothing that would impede sightlines or cast shadows on the projection – yet the audio system had to be powerful enough to provide clear commentary to every seat in the house as well as compelling immersive surround sound to elevate the atmosphere and energy of a fight.
‘This was a real challenge,’ admits Tanzil. ‘A design based on a distributed system of perimeter loudspeakers around the dome wasn’t going to work either as Andrei wanted the ring master’s commentary to sound as if it was emanating from the ring – in other words, to be properly localised to the source – in addition to great immersive surround sound. And of course, the system had to be as compact and unobtrusive as possible.’
After modelling various options, a solution based on KV2’s EX28 2.5-way full-range active loudspeaker system look fit to solve the problem: ‘EX28 came to the rescue,’ Tanzil confirms. ‘This loudspeaker is small enough to be placed at the corners of the boxing ring without intruding on the action, yet powerful enough to cover the whole stadium. Combined with the surround sound loudspeakers (also EX28s) with the proper processing, we were able to create the illusion that the sound originates from the boxing ring and minimise the effect of the reflection from the room.’
Twenty-four KV2 EX28s are placed throughout the stadium; a pair of loudspeakers mounted on custom poles at each corner of the ring with a further 16 EX28s around the perimeter. Eight KV2 VHD 2.18J subwoofers provide high-energy low frequency reinforcement, and the system is driven by eight KV2 VHD 3200 amplifiers.
‘In surround mode, each of the perimeter EX28s gives wide enough coverage that surround sound effect can be heard by everyone in the audience, no matter where they are seated,’ Tanzil says. ‘When paired with the distributed sub arrangement, even the low-mid frequencies can be localised in surround mode; yet in stereo mode the sub arrangement gives even coverage throughout the venue.
For control and distribution, Audio Gears installed four NST Audio VMX88 processors alongside two Netgear M4250 12M2XF network switches and a Drawmer DA6 distribution amplifier. The stadium’s existing Midas M32 Live mixing console was updated with a DN32 Dante expansion card to enable its incorporation into the new system.
By mid December 2024, the installation was complete, in time for the stadium’s reopening towards the end of the month – a grand event marking the 80th anniversary of the stadium.
‘Even with the crowd cheering wildly in the Muay Thai dome, the clarity and cleanliness of the audio with zero distortion across all frequency ranges allowed us to easily achieve the desired SPL for show – and with plenty of headroom to spare,’ says Audio Gears Technical Director, Mile Sanguanpak. ‘It’s incredible what we were able to accomplish with so few loudspeakers of such a compact size. The KV2 system delivers a sonic experience like never before.’
‘KV2 has unlocked a whole new realm of possibilities for Rajadamnern Stadium,’ confirms Sarun Ladawon Chief Marketing Officer of Global Sport Ventures Co. ‘Sound has always been a challenge in our circular dome setting, but with KV2, we can now hear details that were once impossible to capture. The clarity, depth, and power of the audio have transformed the atmosphere, elevating the entire experience. Today, I can confidently say that Rajadamnern Stadium boasts one of the finest sound systems of any stadium in Thailand – and undeniably offers a sporting and cultural experience unlike any other.’
More: www.kv2audio.com
