Recently inaugurated, the brand-new Arena Sofia is Europe’s latest and Bulgaria’s largest arena. Bulgarian audio specialist ProAudio Ltd was tapped to design and install the new sound system powered by Powersoft M50Q amplifiers.
Designed and constructed primarily for sporting events, the venue also hosts exhibitions and concerts. Recent events have included musician Jean Michel Jarre and the prestigious 2012 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Tournament of Champions.
The five story, multi-purpose venue consists of the main arena, which can be configured to seat anywhere from 3,000 to 18,000 attendees, as well as a training area, fitness centre, dressing rooms, spa, restaurant, press conference room and an underground parking for 1,000 vehicles.
Pro Audio designed a distributed system for the main arena consisting of 40 Community R2 loudspeakers and 12 i215LVS subs, providing full-range coverage for both the stands and the field of play. All speakers are suspended from the roof structure. Signal mix, processing and routing is provided by a central TOA D-2000 digital mixing system in a 32in/32out configuration.
Thirteen four-channel Powersoft M50Qs – each providing 4 x 1,250 watts at 4 ohms – drive the arena loudspeaker system. The M50Q features a highly efficient switch mode PSU and Class D design in a single rack unit. All channel pairs are bridgeable providing maximum flexibility in system design. The reduced current draw on each unit results in lower power consumption and cost proving the ultimate Green Audio PowerTM. The green-conscious design of Powersoft amplifiers grants outstanding operational efficiency making them extremely attractive for most applications.
“Efficiency has been a key factor when we opted for Powersoft amplifiers during system design,” says Stanislav Petrov, Managing Director of ProAudio Ltd, “their low power consumption is definitely cost-saving in the long run, particularly for a venue like the Arena Sofia.”
He continues, “At the end of the day you don’t find many 1RU amps out there that draw less current from the same output, generating less heat and saving the client money, while still retaining outstanding sound quality. It was a pretty easy decision to make.”
“Succeeding in such a prestigious yet challenging project was crucial for us”, concludes Petrov, “and I am proud to say that both we and the client are delighted with the end result.”
