Inspired by record-breaking batsman Brian Lara, many young cricketers in Trinidad and Tobago dream of playing their national sport at international level. This dream has been brought a step closer to reality for many by the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (UDeCOTT) with the completion of the Brian Lara Cricket Academy training facility for the development of world-class cricketers.

Just north of the city of San Fernando, the academy is the first state-of-the-art cricket training facility to be constructed by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. The venue includes a 15,000-seat stadium, club seating, lounges and executive boxes as well as exhibition space. The impressive field comprises a quick-drain professional grade cricket pitch and a 70m radius playing field, encompassing six pitches on the main playing field. The Academy also incorporates 12 outdoor practice pitches, official and team locker rooms and a gymnasium.

A request for quotation for the audio systems for the new venue was released in 2016 and the directors of Streamline Systems, who had worked on four other stadia in the Caribbean, were quick to respond. With a window of just one month to audit the stadium and design a modern system to meet the Academy’s needs, the team went straight to work.

To get the design done on schedule, Streamline Systems’ directors Michael Pereira and Clifford Beckles met with the client to ascertain the requirements and to make their own recommendations based on their industry experience. Streamline Systems was assisted by Community’s Technical Applications Group (TAG), who supported the short timescale by reviewing Ease plots, direct sound pressure level mappings and auralisation files as needed.

After several meetings and presentations with the client, Streamline was awarded the contract with a strict deadline of 110 days for completion and commissioning of the system. Considering the manufacture of all components, shipping, customs clearance, installation, testing and commissioning of the system, this would have been a tight deadline but, to make matters worse, the original system then had to be completely redesigned. The original proposal was for a distributed system, using the leading edge of the canopy trussing to fire back to the seating areas, but this was deemed a problem due to lack of catwalk access.

Streamline Systems, again supported by Community’s TAG team, worked quickly to design a new system that would meet both the original requirements and the deadline. Still following a distributed configuration, the loudspeaker locations were all moved to positions behind the listeners where access was more practical for the installation and maintenance. Care was taken to ensure that coverage was optimized for the new locations and that audio projecting across the playing field was kept within acceptable levels.

This final system required more, but smaller, cabinets than the original design and the team selected Community’s R.5 and R.35 loudspeakers for the mainstay of the system. A total of 120 R Series loudspeakers were used for the spectator and playing areas of the project, with a further fifty-two C Series ceiling loudspeakers for the indoor areas.

Community R6-51Max loudspeakers were chosen for the long throw from the main stands over to grass areas that also required coverage: ‘The R6 packs six 12-inch drivers for LF, six 2-inch for MF and six1-inch for HF, with a total power of 4,710W,’ says Pereira. ‘That gets to the field with pattern control to below 100Hz.’

Sixteen16 Community R2Sub subs were used for low-frequency reinforcement for the system.

Manufacture of the speakers was begun immediately by Community, while 45,000 feet of cables were airfreighted to Trinidad so that work could begin onsite. Streamline turned to Electro-Voice for amplification and audio processing. With the stadium split into a North and South stand, two Electro-Voice NetMax N8000 units were linked to allow for audio over the Omneo/Dante network. Linking of the two units was over fibre-optic cable and a Cisco managed network.

Basic system control is done using EV’s TPI-5 5.7-inch touchscreen controls which allow each stand to be turned on and off independently, with more advanced control via a full-sized touchscreen computer. This feature is facilitated by ten Furman ASD120 sequential switchers with five per rack location, which means that each amplifier rack can be switched on via the touchscreens without having to be on the other side of the facility. While the stadium was outfitted with a standard fire alarm system, Streamline took the audio system further with automated system override and voice evacuation.

The full-size touchscreen computer allows the system to be zoned so that end-users can turn on and off an area at will, depending on how each area is being used. Additionally, a few spare inputs and outputs are available allowing for further scalability of the system should the need arise. Three-phase voltage monitoring was included so that the user would be able to monitor system line voltages locally to further ensure longevity of the system.

A simple analogue mixing unit was used on the front end of the system: ‘There was method to what some may construe as madness,’ Pereira explains. ‘This was done so that basic operation of the system would be very simple for the end user or commentator as need be. A much larger and more robust feature set is available via the touchscreen computer but not all operators would need to use this set on a regular basis, as such a much simpler interface was provided for day-to-day use.’

Professional grade Shure wireless microphone systems were used to allow for free use of the wireless microphones throughout the playing field by officials and commentators alike.

‘Every detail was put in place to ensure that a fully operational system was delivered to the client and this was fully achieved, while keeping ten per cent below the agreed contract sum and on time,’ Pereira concludes. ‘The Community loudspeakers provide outstanding intelligibility and uniform coverage and the system combines excellent flexibility with ease-of-use.’