The new 24,000-seat Pampeloponissiako stadium in Patra was built in order to stage the Olympic football tournaments. Bon Studio installed the sound reinforcement system in the stadium's main arena plus sound reinforcement and public address systems in the internal peripheral areas. Using EASE predictive software, the aim was to accomplish a sound level of 105 dB (+/-3dB) and a frequency response of 60Hz - 16kHz, as a result, four clusters were eventually deployed, two at the centre and two at the sides of the stadium. Side clusters comprised four speakers and the central clusters of eight, making a total of 24 JBL VerTec VT4888 mid-size line array enclosures. These are augmented by JBL Pro Application Engineered (AE) speakers in the shape of 14 AM4212/64 and 12 x AC2215/00 enclosures. Amplification is provided by 35 Crown CTs amplifiers, controlled via an IQ Network and Crown's proprietary IQwic software. Sited in the stadium's control room are two Soundcraft consoles - a Live 8 and LX7, with broadcast connection achieved via a 30-channel splitter with isolation transformers. To optimize performance, a pair of BSS Audio ProSys 8810 CN 8 x 10 DSP matrix devices providing a digital transfer of the audio signal to the amplifiers (providing a 16 x 20 matrix in analogue form). The installation also features a dbx DriveRack PA and 1066 along with two JBL LSR25P studio monitors.
The company also installed systems in the 21,000-capacity Panthessaliko Stadium in Volos, which also hosted football during the Games - and the new 5,200-seat Nikaia indoor stadium in Athens, which hosted the weightlifting tournaments.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
