St. Jakob Park in Basel, with a capacity of more than 33,000 that makes it the largest stadium in Switzerland, recently underwent a modernization effort that includes a new sound reinforcement system utilizing a variety of RCF loudspeakers, including models from the HL, HVL and P Series.
The venue is owned by FC Basel 1893 soccer team and is a UEFA Category 4 stadium. The renovation took place during the team’s season of games, with the audio team around Martin Reich (CEO of audioconsulting ag) implementing the new system in three phases. The amplifiers and the audio matrix were replaced, followed by the installation of new underbalcony fills, and then the grandstands were addressed.
“After the first few games, we have received very positive feedback,” Reich says. “The music reproduction and the coverage by the new RCF systems have become more homogeneous in comparison, and speech intelligibility has also improved distinctly. With the line array systems, we can make much finer adjustments in terms of quieter and louder sections than was ever possible with the previous point-source loudspeakers.”
The most important criteria for the new system was improvement of speech intellibility, and because it’s also used for safety-related announcements, it must meet requirements of the Swiss SES guideline SN EN 50849. Equally crucial was a seamless transition from the old system to the new system as well as staunch weather resistance and reliability parameters. The system can be controlled and monitored remotely, down to the individual transducer level.
The grandstand portion of the system comprises 205 HL 40 line array elements and 30 HS 2200 subwoofers joined by ten HVL 15 loudspeakers for the corners. Meanwhile, 330 P 4228 loudspeakers, pained a custom Basel-Red color, reinforce the underbalcony areas and walkways.
Georg Hofmann, head of the RCF Engineering Support Group (ESG) in Germany, states, “With such a large installation in a stadium, it was not only necessary to take into account the structural and acoustic conditions, but also the use during operation. With the new RCF system, St. Jakob Park has a sound reinforcement system that has both optimized voice reproduction, including emergency alerts, and massively improved music reproduction, in terms of sound quality and power output.”
