Sixteen teams, 64 games, 17 days, and a record-breaking crowd of nearly 750,000 experienced NEXO GEO S12-ST loudspeakers in Prague’s O2 Arena for the Ice Hockey World Championship, won by Canada.
The event was another great success for the O2 Arena and its newly-installed NEXO PA/VA systems, following the finals of the Federation Cup in 2014, and this year’s European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Flown from the central ‘cube’ above the ice rink, the GEO S12-ST system, supplied and installed by MusicData, uses a total of 84x line-array cabinets, with 24x RS18 subs.
Chosen for their long-throw capability, the compact 2-way ST cabinets have been developed from the standard GEO S12 design offering the high SPL and enhanced speech intelligibility required for stadium and arena applications.
The 24x RS18 subs – also flown – enhance events such as motor sports, BMX championships and the Davis and Federation Cup tennis matches.
“These days, events like this are more and more a show,” says Jan Plihal, head of media technology at the Arena. “It’s not just about the sports, we have to think about commercials as well.” Although the typical level for ice hockey matches is 90-94dBA, an SPL of 106dBA is possible in the Arena.
The system is driven by 16x NXAMP4x4 TDControllers situated in rack cases in the roof, providing 256KW of power.