The new Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero, Argentina consists of a cylindrical stadium with a capacity of 28,000 seated spectators joined by VIP sections, press booths, spaces for catering, and covered parking for 400 cars, with a main multizone sound system for stadium voice, emergency and paging functions driven by Powersoft amplifiers.
In fact, it’s the first stadium in the country to be designed with the sound system in mind from the early stages of construction stage. The audio portion of this ambitious project was entrusted to Equaphon Sistemas de Sonido SRL, an Argentine company with more than 45 years of experience in the professional market.
“In this type of venue, the safety of the equipment is a determining factor,” says Rubén Branca, Equaphon’s managing director. “Thanks to the different limiters offered by the Powersoft amplification platforms, a very high degree of system security is achieved.”
As of June this year, all Powersoft amplifiers have achieved EN 54-16 certification, which provides an extra layer of certainty to the customer as they now meet the testing and performance criteria to be used as Voice Alarm Control and Indication Equipment/Public Address and Voice Alarm systems.
“We’ve been representatives of Powersoft for more than 15 years and have been just as pleased with the performance of the system we deployed at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades as we always are,” adds Branca. “The monitoring functions of ArmoníaPlus in particular, such as impedance measurement, allows the operator to verify the operation of all speaker systems at once, which is invaluable in an installation as complex as this.”
As noted, the main system is divided into a number of distinct areas, with the sound team installing 19 Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D amplifiers to cover the majority of the stadium, as well as two Mezzo 322 AD and two Mezzo 604 A for some of the smaller rooms. A Xilica Solaro FR1 DSP and XTouch control system centralizes IP audio processing, distribution and management
At the design stage of the project, working with acoustic simulations, the team decided to cover the grandstand area by hanging up eight arrays from the stadium ceiling, which are made up of 12 Equaphon-manufactured STS Touring Series V15+ cabinets each. This model is an active line array system powered by a two-channel Powersoft D-Cell504 IS module and has a 10-inch neodymium woofer and a 1.4-inch neodymium driver.
“As the system was to be permanently hung outdoors, work was done to optimise it for these circumstances,” says Branca. “It became a bi-amped passive box, with a newly designed fixed rigging structure. The amplifier chosen was the Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D, which drives six cabinets at once.”
The system design decentralized the amplifiers by taking advantage of the Dante protocol and a fiber optic ring, distributing them in 11 racks placed at strategic points of the stadium. This minimizes cabling, which, in turn helps reduce costs while allowing for the maintenance and inspection of the amplifiers without the need to disturb the whole system.
“In the north, east, and south stands, the high tray blocks the coverage of the upper part of the low stalls,” Branca explains. “For that reason, 100 -volt line speakers are used to reinforce that area, which is amplified by two channels of another Powersoft Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D.”
The indoor areas are outfitted with two -way wall-mount cabinets or STS Touring Series Onyx8 two-way coaxial ceiling loudspeakers, both on 100-volt lines. These loudspeakers are driven by three Powersoft Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D and two Mezzo 322 AD distributed in three locations.
Both the home and the visiting teams will have access to video rooms each equipped an STS Touring Series mikra4 stereo setup and a mikraSub12 subwoofer as a complement, all of which is powered by a Powersoft Mezzo 604 A.
The final rooms, where press conferences are due to be held, has two portable STS Touring Series Suono8 systems powered by a Powersoft LiteMod HV module and processed with a DSP-Lite. As it is a portable and active system, the user has the flexibility to locate them as required by the application.
