Olympic class sound from Martin Audio CDD
- Details
Following successful fit-outs of the Lee Valley White Water Centre and Lee Valley Ice Centre, they have now completed a challenging installation at Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Edmonton.
This required the company to install a 30m-long roof truss section down the middle of the 200m six-lane oval track, six and a half metres up in the air, to support over half a tonne of Martin Audio’s popular CDD 12, CDD 10 and CSX sub woofers.
Built 10 years ago at a cost of £15m, the Centre plays host to a wide range of athletes - operating as an elite venue for Olympians as much as a walk-in facility for the general public. Boasting 4,000 admissions a week, it is the busiest indoor athletics facility in the UK.
In such a wide open, cavernous venue, pristine sound is vital, as much for commentary at athletics meets as general messages and voice evacuation. However, the previous sound system was sadly lacking, as Centre manager Mick Bond explained. “It piggy backed onto the fire alarm system so it was not really fit for general purpose. It was a constant source of frustration and produced feedback whenever turned up.
“We managed to get funding for a replacement system and got various quotes. Old Barn Audio were both competitive on price and were tried and tested as far as we were concerned.”
Their project manager Neil Kavanagh knew that LVRPA wanted to maintain continuity with the proven CDD formula and his solution was to specify largely CDD12, enabling the CSX 118 sub to take care of the lower frequencies.
This he knew would not only provide the level of speech intelligibility required for commentary and handle background music during daytime training, but also have sufficient muscularity to handle for small concerts. “The venue is also available for hire so by providing a high spec. Martin Audio system this will facilitate a lot more business, leading to an excellent return on investment,” he said.
In summary he said, “Now that the Lottery Funding has finished and venues built for the London Olympics need to stand on their own two feet, a powerful sound system such as this is a wise investment. We are also grateful to Martin Audio for the excellent support.”
(Jim Evans)
