Funktion-One Russia has supplied and installed a permanent sound system for Volgograd Arena – one of the World Cup 2018 stadiums.
Working closely with the Funktion-One design team in the UK, the company specified a system that features 638 Funktion-One loudspeakers and 50 MC2 Audio amplifiers.
The project, which began in spring 2017, demanded high levels of support and commitment from both manufacturers, in order for Funktion-One Russia to meet all of the criteria and deadlines.
Funktion-One sales director David Bruml commented: “We are extremely happy with the sound system installation at the Volgograd Arena and are grateful to our Russian partners for their unwavering support and excellent communication throughout. The whole company was energised by this major contract, which is among the largest Funktion-One installations to date.
“Following large scale installations for the Winter Olympics in Sochi. we’re honoured to have now supplied the loudspeaker system for the Volgograd Arena World Cup stadium, particularly in light of the historical significance of the city,” he continued. “Our designs are perfectly suited to the demands of world-class sporting applications and we look forward to further installations in similar venues in the future.”
XTA’s technical brand manager Waring Hayes added: “This was an amazing opportunity to showcase our latest DSP amplifier platform, and we were thrilled that Funktion-One chose to specify DSP amps exclusively for the entire system. The amplifiers come in DSP and non-DSP (but still with network audio) flavours, so the additional monitoring and control aspect was important in the choice of DSP models.”
The loudspeakers are accurately arrayed and aimed using bespoke metalwork – 24 C-shape clusters along the sides and 12 Y-shape clusters for the corners. Each array features Evo 6SH loudspeakers with 50° horizontal dispersion for the closer seats and Evo 7SH loudspeakers with narrower dispersion and resulting higher intensity for the further seats. Alternate clusters are supplemented with either two F215 Mk2 midbass or a single F221 enclosures. Under-balcony coverage is provided by Funktion-One’s intelligible and compact F81 and F101 loudspeakers.
Amplification comes from 50 OEM Delta amplifiers from MC2 Audio. The amplifiers are all quad output, providing 200 channels of DSP and amplification, and a total power just short of 500kW.
Richard Fleming, sales and applications manager, who was involved in drawing up the specification of the amps explained: “All the amps are connected via Ethernet and configured using our ‘AudioCore: Amped Edition’ software with our killer new feature – grouping architecture. This allowed channels to be logically grouped and sub-grouped to minimise the apparent complexity of the system, simplifying It from 200 channels down to just eight sets of grouped controls.”
Funktion-One Russia’s Andrey Kremenchugskiy commented: “The fully redundant Dante network and easy control of this huge system is second to none. It gives me the confidence to say that we have installed a system of the highest audio quality from these two prestigious British manufacturers. It sounds absolutely amazing and, long after the World Cup is over, I expect it to be thrilling sell-out 40,000 crowds!”