Set on its maiden voyage on 6 May 2012, the new flagship of Costa Cruises, Costa Fascinosa, is the largest Italian-flagged cruise ship afloat. To drive audio solutions in the ship’s array of facilities, a Powersoft amplifier solution was selected, incorporating the company’s green M series.
The 114,500-ton, 3,780-passenger ship Costa Fascinosa was designed by well-known cruise ship architect Joe Farcus. Following the ship’s commissing in 2007, a state-of-the-art onboard audio system was required for the €510 million ship.
Duecanali and Ottocanali amplifiers drive sound systems in the restaurants, chapel, library, casino, theater, pool, fitness center and spa, dance lounge and disco, bars, and meeting and multifunction rooms. Amplifier suppliers H.M.S installed a range of Powersoft models including M14D (two channels, driving 700W on 4 ohms) to M50Q HDSP+ETH (four channels, each generating 1250W on 4 ohms). Other selected models were Duecanali 3904 and Ottocanali 1204 amplifiers. These allow eight channels, 150W on 4 ohms or 125W on 70V using BatFormers, the optional plug-in output transformers.
One of the main entertainment venues on the ship is the Bel Ami theatre (pictured), which is furnished with purple and silver décor and sparkling antique mirrors. “In order to achieve an excellent result we designed a system with flexible amplifiers that can seamlessly drive 100V or low impedance lines,” states Andrea Macchia, technical sales engineer at H.M.S.
Two racks equipped with 26 Powersoft amplifiers, including four-channel M series (4 x 1,250W on 4 ohms) and two-channel Duecanali 3904 (2 x 2,400W on 2 ohms) models, power 143 EAW speakers (including KF695zT, SB850zP, KF650zP, JF80z and SB150zP cabinets) in the theater. All of the amplifiers were fitted with optional DSP cards and Ethernet connectivity to offer system monitoring and control via Armonía Pro Audio Suite software.
According the company the thermal loss of installed amplifiers is around 50% than that of other products available on the market within the same category. “This means a decrease in air-conditioning power consumption and generally lower energy consumption,” comments Macchia. “Take into account that Powersoft amplifiers allow placement of the audio racks in smaller lockers and saving space is paramount on a ship!”
The advantages offered by Powersoft amplifiers allowed greater amplification power within a limited budget with the option of adding more speakers or driving the existing set up to higher power rates.
Costa Fascinosa has been operating cruises between Venice, Italy and the eastern Mediterranean since the end of May 2012. The ship is scheduled to sail to South America for the winter, returning to the eastern Mediterranean in summer 2013.
