Simonds Stadium has become one of the biggest and most successful multi-purpose venues in Australia’s Victoria Region. The Stadium’s third stage of renovation was recently completed with the addition of a new southern grandstand, increasing seating capacity to over 35,000.
During the renovation Simonds Stadium was outfitted with a Harman BSS Audio Soundweb London BLU-805 AVB system, making it the first venue in Australia to benefit from the extensive audio-video bridging system.
Australian-based Total Events Co. performed the installation.
The Soundweb London BLU-805 combines the proven and respected Soundweb London platform with the industry-supported AVB transport. The BLU-805 provides 64 incoming AVB channels and 64 outgoing AVB channels at 48kHz or 32 incoming AVB channels and 32 outgoing AVB channels at 96kHz.
The stadium utilizes the HiQnet London Architect software for configuration, control and monitoring of the system. The audio is fed from the Soundweb London devices via BLU link to the 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 300 meters 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.”
“We installed fourteen JBL AWC129 speakers and sixteen 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.”
In addition, JBL Control 25AV speakers cover the walkways and JBL ceiling speakers cover the functions spaces.
Commenting on the simplicity the BSS Audio system offers, Busbridge said, “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.”