One of the key reconstruction projects following the 2013 Lushan earthquake, the Mingshan Stadium is designed to host sports, conferences and exhibitions, as well as staging large-scale cultural and theatrical performances. With EZPro, taking on design and installation of its sound systems, an Allen & Heath ZED-436 four-bus mixer handles the audio mixing with a pair of Symetrix Solus open-architecture standalone DSPs providing the processing and flexibility for both sports events and entertainment performances.
Located in China’s Sichuang province, the venue covers an area of 4,000-sq-m and can accommodate 2,500 people. It features a central basketball court, surrounded by some fixed stands, with a temporary stage and additional stands.
‘The ZED-436 is the perfect choice for this application because it provides enough input channels and professional sound quality,’ says EZPro Technical Manager, Xuejun Lian. ‘The mixer features 32 mic or line inputs plus two dual stereo inputs, which means that it has two more stereo inputs than other mixers of the same range, thus having the capability to accept more audio sources. The ZED-436 also has DuoPre preamps for better control of signal level and sound quality.’
Among the biggest challenges facing the installation were the venue’s long reverberation time and trapezoidal audience area, to deliver even coverage and speech intelligibility while managing acoustic anomalies. The PA system uses seven loudspeaker clusters of Community R-series loudspeakerswith different coverage patterns for each zone. There is a separate PA system for the performance events, comprising four flown Mackie line array systems and eight subwoofers on the ground.
‘The SymNet Solus 8 DSP is a very reliable piece of hardware, but one should also highlight its multiple control capabilities,’ says Xuejun Lian. ‘For example, it can be controlled through the SymNet Designer software or third-party touch panels – the kind of flexibility that is vital for a project of this scale.’
Meanwhile, the DSP’s open architecture and extensive library of design templates allow each loudspeaker cluster to be optimised as required. ‘This enables us to get the best possible intelligibility results for the room depending on the acoustic requirements of each event,’ notes Lian.
The SymNet Solus DSPs are also used for the separate PA system installed to handle performance-based engagements. This deployment is based around Mackie (RunningMan) HDA powered line array speakers and subwoofers, and once again the SymNet Solus devices quickly proved their worth.
‘Each speaker has to be delayed and equalised independently to form a delayed subwoofer array and achieve the best coverage of the seating areas,’ says Lian. ‘The SymNet Solus 8 is the perfect tool to realise this objective.’
The processors’ logic outputs also allow the Mingshan Stadium fire alarm system to be prioritised – another factor that makes them particularly suitable for large venue installations of this kind.
Nearly six months on from the opening of the venue, the audio system continues to perform to the delight of operators and visitors alike. As a spokesperson for Chengdu Eagle Huang Technology observes: ‘The system delivers the required levels of SPL and speech clarity. Not only does it achieve even coverage of the audience areas, it also avoids detrimental sound reflections. The result is that we can achieve the perfect sound – no matter what type of event is taking place.’
