The Girardin Sports Center, a new 73,000-square-foot indoor multisports complex in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada is outfitted with an audio and communications system serving the facility’s nearly 5,000 weekly visitors that employ a range of AtlasIED components.
Key spaces served by the system include an ice rink, soccer field which is overhung by a 250-meter running track, and various conference rooms, offices, and locker rooms. One challenge was controlling different music playlists for the various zones of the facility with a range of acoustical qualities, with the AtlasIED Atmosphere audio processing and control platform and IPX loudspeakers and endpoints to control and distribute audio throughout the building.
Specifically, an Atmosphere AZM8, an eight-zone audio processor, serves as the heart of the system. It includes learning ambient noise sensing and a built-in message player in addition to allowing up to 16 plug-and-play accessories that can be connected across four accessory ports.
The IPX Series displays with built-in loudspeakers on the project include the IP-DDS, which is an indoor, dual-sided display to show the time and scrolling messages, and IP-SDM indoor wall mount loudspeakers. All of these IPX Series endpoints are designed to live on an existing VoIP network and are Power over Ethernet (PoE+) capable, which allows each to be powered through the same Ethernet cable as the audio and metadata.
“The Girardin Center is a large facility and there are multiple smaller rooms,” says Daniel Bolduc of SONIMEC, the construction project manager. “The IP-based products from AtlasIED were ideal for our installation as they helped us avoid having to run separate cables to each of the loudspeakers and displays for power and a completely different type of cable in the facility,.
The 250-seat hockey rink, meanwhile, is served by AtlasIED FS12T-94 and larger FS12T-99 loudspeakers to deliver coverage. “In this particular hockey rink, visitors are closer to the ice than normal and the ceiling is fairly low,” Bolduc explains. “That means the public is close to both the ice and the speakers. For fans and hockey players on the ice, we added some additional speakers to improve the coverage in the space to give more ambience in the space.”
The indoor soccer field presented an opposite acoustic challenge, where an artificial turf field and rubber infill used to cushion the field both absorb sound. As a result, it needs audio output at higher levels than the hockey arena, provided by multiple FS12T-94 loudspeakers.
The facility also allows the teams and players using the soccer field and hockey rink to play their own music via mobile devices, and both areas outfitted with an Atmosphere remote Bluetooth audio input that allows allows designated members of a team to connect and play their music. The Atmosphere AZM8 automatically detects the Bluetooth device through the receiver and dynamically assigns appropriate audio settings, such as makeup gain, EQ, and auto gain control, to that input.
Additional Atmosphere C-ZSV wall controllers in various rooms and areas provide users with control of the entire Atmosphere system, including the ability to control the audio, select sources, limit the number of people accessing the system and adjust the volume for the different spaces from a wall controller, mobile device or a computer.
Bolduc: “The Atmosphere system gives us control capabilities to adjust the volume based on the noise level and activities in a particular space. And with the ability to access the Atmosphere from our phones, people can adjust the volume on their own, making it easy for us to manage and our visitors to use. Also, the ability to see the endpoints on the network and identify issues is incredibly helpful for us in the ongoing management of the audio system.”
