An overhaul of the PA/VA system at Elland Road sas seen more than 100 Martin Audio loudspeakers installed to provide seamless coverage across all areas of the stadium.
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Sophie Hoult, content and events marketer
More than a decade after installing a Martin Audio public address system at Leeds United’s Elland Road stadium, Imperium Integration has renewed the PA/VA set-up with the British manufacturer’s latest technology.
As part of a general stadium upgrade, and as a precursor to increasing the ground’s capacity, more than 100 Martin Audio speakers have been installed to provide seamless coverage across all four stands, the TV production studios, hospitality and general ancillary areas.
Alan Inkster, Imperium Integration’s owner, says several options had been discussed as potential solutions almost three years ago at the inception of the contract. “But then Torus came out just as we received the order – so we changed it to Torus. It was perfect timing.
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Sophie Hoult
"As a fixed curvature array, it's brilliant and absolutely kills it in a stadium this size. It’s almost like it’s designed for it.
"We tested it side by side with other people’s equipment and sonically and acoustically, it’s stunning as well.”
The club sanctioned Imperium’s recommendation and each stand is now equipped with Torus T1230 – 12", 30° constant curvature arrays. “We kept uniformity with Torus because you get a different timbre when you use different speakers," says Inkster.
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Sophie Hoult
"We needed more bass, and the moderate weight of Torus allowed us to put subs in the hang configuration, without giving the structural engineers heart failure.”
The East Stand comprises six three-box Torus arrays, each with an SXCF118 cardioid sub, with double Torus arrays for the top tier. The North Stand features six Torus arrays, with every second one including an extra SXCF118.
The West Stand is populated with eight Torus arrays – every second one with a sub. At the rear, the installers have used CDD12s, in view of the physical barrier presented by the press gantry.
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Sophie Hoult
The South Stand has been equipped with six Torus arrays (every alternate one with a sub).
Triple Torus T1230 arrays, which can be raised and lowered, maintain seamless sound into each corner of the stadium. .
For the rest of the stadium, Imperium opted for Martin Audio’s CDD series and Blackline. "In the broadcast studio, we’ve used eight CDD5s," says Inkster. "When not being used as a studio, the area is used for private boxes, and since it’s sound-proofed, we have to pipe the sound from the stadium back through them.”
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Sophie Hoult
Elsewhere, Blackline X12s are used in the 2,000 sq metre Centenary Pavilion event space, as well as a CDD LIVE 12 in Yeboah’s Crossbar, a hospitality area in the East Stand.
The 40 banqueting suites, hospitality boxes, bars and other areas have been equipped with Cuboid 6 speakers from Focusrite Pro's sister company Optimal Audio. A further 20 Cuboid 5 models have been fitted elsewhere around the ground.
System intelligibility was optimised by deploying Martin Audio’s Display 3 software, “as direct SPL is the key in a loud stadium”, according to Inkster.
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Sophie Hoult
“Each stand is totally different – both in structure and the materials they are built with – which acoustically causes issues," he adds. "We managed to address this by using Torus, which answered 95% of the questions the stadium environment asked of it.
“The feedback we have received from the club has been stunning; they knew as soon as we put the first array into the South Stand. The difference between that and the old system was amazing. Putting uncompressed audio through it reveals the true performance of the system.”