‘The Ryukyu Golden Kings don’t have a home arena, so all 26 matches in their season are played on tour,’ says Osamu Koki from Staging Okinawa. ‘They came to see us for ideas on how to liven up the excitement at each game – they wanted lighting and sound but with the proviso that everything had to fit in a two-ton truck.’
The Ryukyu Golden Kings (RGK) are one of Okinawa’s leading basketball teams and a member of the Western Conference of Basketball Japan. As Okinawa is surrounded by a host of other small islands, access is strictly by ferry – hence the restriction on the mobility of an entertainment system.
‘The audio need was for a high-quality, high SPL system that is very lightweight, so we approached audio specialist Audio Brains in Yokahama for advice and support,’ Koki recalls. ‘They demonstrated d&b audiotechnik Q-Series and recommended a system of Q1 with Q-Subs flown above for the long sides of the court. The owners judged the sound superior to other brands – in particular the many sporting venues have difficult acoustics and the intelligibility of d&b was very important. Also they said that no other system for this size and weight had the low end punch of the Q.’
Staging Okinawa devised a square truss system to suspend the sound and lights around the central scoreboard of each venue and recently took the system across the water to Ishigaki Island: ‘This was the first time any national sporting event has been staged on this island and it was very successful. It is quite simple for our technicians to set the Q system to target the audience areas without putting sound energy onto the roof or end walls. Although the screaming of the fans can make it sound like an old railway station when they get really excited, the Q system delivers a clear crisp sound and commentary to the fans; everyone is in the direct field and it overcomes the building reverberation.’
Like every other venue on RGK’s conference tour, the Ishigaki gymnasium was sold out. Some fans queued up only to find they had to stand throughout the match.
‘The season is now coming to a close and RGK is currently top of the conference,’ Koki adds. ‘We like to think this success would not be achieved without the Q-Series.’
More: www.audiobrains.com
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