Home to the oldest sports club operating in Poland, Cracovia Rink has benefitted from a complete program of reconstruction and refurbishment in recent years, and it now also has a new sound reinforcement system designed and installed by WrocŁw-based Tommex Zebrowscy.
“Due to the difficult acoustics and harsh climatic conditions in the ice hall, the choice of loudspeakers was fundamental to the system’s performance and long-term reliability,” explains Marcin Zimny of Tommex.
The ice surface at Cracovia is 28 x 58m, and the grandstand accommodates more than 2,500 seated spectators.
“With the ice and a lot of other reflective metal surfaces to be avoided, the dispersion of the loudspeakers was very important to minimize negative reflection effects and the long reverberation times of the hall,” continues Zimny. “Based on experience, we chose Community Professional WET and R-Series loudspeakers for their well-defined coverage angles and extreme all-weather durability.”
Tommex deployed 10 Community R.5 loudspeakers to cover the grandstand side and nine R.5 loudspeakers for the main grandstand.
Additionally, four WET W2-2W8T loudspeakers cover the tribune commentator area and two R.5’s and two WET W2-228’s provide performance music for the system rink.
“Despite being a difficult environment, Community again provided the ideal solution and the system delivers excellent quality and intelligibility for entertainment, public address and voice evacuation,” Zimny says.
The commentator’s room houses a Dynacord CMS 1000-2 mixer and a Dynacord DSP244 digital processor that feed the system’s amplification in a separate room, which hosts a g+m elektronik APROSYS APS modular system.
In addition to the priority task of efficient evacuation during an emergency, the sound system is also used for commercial purposes at sporting events.