As part of a recent refurbishment of Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium in the French city of Saint-Étienne includes a new sound reinforcement system designed with the goal of enhanced intelligibility that’s headed by d&b audiotechnik Y-Series line arrays and supporting components.
Dating from 1931, the 35,600-capacity facility is home to the city’s local football team and has been the setting for several encounters during FIFA’s Euro and World Cup competitions. Responsible for enhancing the overall experience for the stadium’s audiences was Lyon-based design consultancy, Cobalt, with CEO Pierre-Philippe Garde noting, “In this type of complete refurbishment, the general impression you’ll get of the whole project as a spectator will be linked to sound, video and light – all the aspects have to be perfect.”
The audio team faced multiple technical challenges, including issues with poor intelligibility of announcements, a problem exacerbated by th fervour of Saint-Étienne’s supporters and the stadium’s RT60 reverberation time of more than five seconds in the lower frequencies. In addition, the new system would have to allow for the low weight-loading of the stadium structure itself as well as being as unobtrusive as possible to protect audience sightlines.
The Y-Series line arrays deployed as mains on the project are joined by xS Series point source loudspeakers, with low-end support provided by the d&b Vi-SUB SVS – the stadium-specific installation version of the V-SUB. Although designed for ground-stacked applications, the subs here are in fact flown behind the top cabinets.
The d&b Custom Solutions team, including Nicholas Traa, Lukas Walter, and Michael Eckstein, provided assistance throughout the project, including the design of a a dedicated rigging approach adapted to the stadium’s carpentry. In addition, a new algorithm developed by d&b was also used to speed up calculation times, bringing added efficiency to the fine-tuning aspectof the project.
The physical installation was carried out by main contractor SPIE, led by project manager Damien Venet. The stadium’s technical operation is looked after by local integrator VideoScope, which was responsible for the cabling and the control room implementation. To minimize cable losses, all loudspeakers are wired separately to the amplifiers.
