After years of discussion, demos and testing, Italian audio sales and rental service company Agorà rented an Optocore optical fibre ring to top Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk earlier this year. The system enabled remote control of all amplifiers used in the club’s Donbass Arena over Ethernet – and was so successful that a similar system was subsequently installed at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.
Built on the site of the former Stadio delle Alpi, the new 41,000-capacity arena relies on the Optocore network for digital audio network transport and signal distribution.
The network, comprising 64 analogue inputs and 88 analogue outputs (plus Ethernet), was built around Optocore’s new X6R-FX and X6R-TP digital converters – all connected in a single ring involving more than 2km of fibre cable. This has minimised the number of devices necessary for the site-wide signal distribution, including different digital processors in the rack rooms serving the various clusters hanging around the stadium roof and speakers placed on the playing field.
Responsible for the masterful system design, speaker positioning, alignment and equalisation was ‘General Cluster’ Daniele Tramontani, who has worked closely with the L’Aquila-based Agorá over a number of years.
To construct his Optocore ring, Tramontani drew on two X6R-FX network converters (configured 8AE/8LI) in the control room, with all 64 analogue inputs distributed via four Meyer Sound Galileo processors. A further 11 X6R-FX- 8AE/8LO (with eight channel line outputs), along with two X6R-TP-16LI (Line Input) converters were used over Optocore’s proprietary 24 ID Sane Ethernet network to distribute those audio channels to the L-Acoustics amplifiers, sited under the stand roof and on the field of play. All network cards were supplied with Phoenix connectors.
In addition, four OptoCon 4/2 expanded beam bulkheads (each equipped with two lenses) have been added to the system, giving an extra level of flexibility and scalability as the system can be interfaced directly via fibre with an OB truck or mobile Optocore devices in a rugged environment.
The September inauguration ceremony was masterminded by Marco Balich and built by K-events/Filmmaster Group, who specialise in the creation and production of spectacular opening events (including the gala opening and closing of the Winter Olympic Games in Turin in 2006). The installation was supported by Luca Giaroli, Audiosales’ product specialist, who provided assistance on site, setting and programming the entire network and collaborating with Daniele Tramontani for the detailing of back-up procedures. This ensured that the Optocore system would be able to react instantly to any power supply problems, and make patch changes in micro-seconds to guarantee the transmission of the signals to the destination required.
Architects on the project were Hernado Suarez (Studio Chiesa), Gino Zanavella (Studio Gau) and Al Group of Turin. The new stadium includes 3,600 VIP seats and more than 100 executive boxes, while the complex also incorporates training fields, underground car parks, a gymnasium for the players, two shopping centres, car parking, Juventus museum, restaurants and a hotel.
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