The Scaniarinken, built in 1969, plays
host to ice hockey and basketball. The acoustics of its steel
walls are poor with hard, reflective surfaces that created
high reverberance and low intelligibility, and the venue operators
were determined to improve the audience experience.
The arena brought in
TTS
Scandinavia, Renkus-Heinz’s Swedish distributor,
who specified loudspeakers from the high power
ST
Series, which features built-in
Class
D amplifiers, full
CobraNet
audio connectivity and Renkus-Heinz’s proprietary
R-Control
system. The Scaniarinken control system is completed by a
Symetrix SymNet Audio Matrix.
The
ST
Series’ high power, highly directional design means
that the entire arena can be covered from a single central
cluster of loudspeakers – in this case, a total of six
ST7
cabinets with a pair of
ST7Ms
facing down to cover the seats beside the playing area on
the farther sides.
Another factor in the installation design was
Renkus-Heinz’s
Reference Point Array (RPA) concept.
Milos Renftel
of
TTS Scandinavia
says:
“Working with an RPA made the process
of specifying and installing the loudspeaker cluster faster,
simpler and less expensive than conventional methodology,
which complemented the savings we made by only having to install
CAT-5 and mains cables and by having integral amplifiers in
the speakers.
The use of modern loudspeakers and sophisticated audio control
systems means that sound only goes where we want it to go,
rather than the energy being reflected off the walls and ceiling.
The digital control and cabling means that we have saved significantly
on the cabling and installation process, and the ability to
raise and lower the cluster for maintenance will reduce running
costs in the future. It really is a remarkably elegant solution
to a difficult problem and we’re delighted with the
results.”
