Home of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), London’s Twickenham Stadium has installed QSC Q-Sys audio management system, supplied by Shure Distribution UK.
Replacing an outdated Peavey Media Matrix system, the new platform is based around a pair of Core 1100 processors – one main and one redundant Core – to route audio and control the PA and Voice Alarm systems at the venue.
As well as hosting key matches in 2015 Six Nations Championship, the ground will be the venue for the final of the quadrennial Rugby World Cup at the end of October. With these events in mind, the Q-Sys audio management system was specified by Vanguardia, programmed by consultant Richard Northwood of RH Consulting, and installed by A/V integrator, Sysco.
Twickenham’s existing PA speakers and Lab.gruppen amps were not replaced, but integrate with the new Q-Sys system. Audio inputs to the system were installed from the Master of Ceremonies’ box, and also at the players’ tunnel to allow input from on-the-spot commentators and live bands playing before fixtures. According to Northwood, the installation was one of the first to use Dante interfaces with Q-Sys internationally, feeding 64 channels of digital audio via Dante from a mixer in the stadium to the recently released CDN64 Dante interface cards in Q-Sys. The audio is then processed within Q-Sys and routed on to the PA’s Lab.gruppen amps via Dante, passing out of Q-Sys once again via the CDN64 cards.
‘I’ve been an advocate of Q-Sys for some time,’ Northwood explains. ‘It’s easy to configure even complex set-ups, and overall operation is so straightforward compared to other systems. Taking an example from Twickenham, setting up redundant mode on a Q-Sys Core is a question of ticking one box – and you’re done.’
The installation proceeded almost without incident, and was ready for use before the new season began in early 2015. ‘Because it was early days for the CDN64 Dante cards, we had a couple of minor teething problems,’ Northwood admits. ‘These were quickly resolved with help from Shure Distribution, and an update from QSC and international support agent, Martin Barbour.’
Although this part of the installation is now complete, further expansion is planned – the Q-Sys system having been specified with these in mind: ‘The twin 1100 Cores are capable of much more than the current system requires of them,’ Northwood says. ‘This was a bit of future-proofing on the RFU’s part – they plan to install a new IPTV system at the ground in the future, and when that happens, it will integrate perfectly with Q-Sys.’
