The renovated Simonds Stadium is the first venue in Australia to be fitted with a Harman BSS Audio Soundweb London BLU-805 AVB system. One of the biggest and most successful multi-purpose venues in the Australian state of Victoria. the stadium has a capacity of over 35,000, following the addition of a new southern grandstand.
The audio installation was carried out by Australia-based Total Events Co. The Soundweb London BLU-805 combines the proven Soundweb London platform with industry-supported AVB transport. The BLU-805 provides 64 incoming and 64 outgoing AVB channels at 48kHz, or 32/32 AVB channels at 96kHz. The stadium uses HiQnet London Architect software for system configuration, control and monitoring. Audio is fed from the Soundweb London devices via BLU link to Harman Crown CTS amplifiers in various rack rooms that drive the speaker system.
“The main audio feed is derived from the existing system control which is about 300m away from the new racks, so we used AVB to link from that system to the new zone,” explained Bill Busbridge, managing director of Total Events Co. “The BLU-805 picked up its feeds nicely. The BLU-805 also controls three function spaces and it certainly made our job a lot easier.”
Total Events Co. also designed, supplied, and installed the PA system for the new grandstand, which includes JBL AWC129 and AWC82 all-weather loudspeakers. In addition, JBL Control 25AV speakers cover the walkways and JBL ceiling speakers are deployed in the function spaces.
“We installed 14 JBL AWC129 speakers and 16 JBL AWC82 speakers for the seating bowl and under balcony fills,” remarked Busbridge. “We chose them as they are robust, high powered and totally suitable for the application. They also fitted in well with the architect’s aesthetic requirements.”
He added: “I’ve been back a couple of times to tweak the system and it is really simple to patch back in and make changes on the fly.”
