Twickenham Stadium in London recently collaborated with Vanguardia, Clair Global Integration Europe and Sound Technology to complete an audio upgrade project designed to enhance the fan experience at the 82,000-seat venue and adhere to modern safety standards with the support of JBL Professional loudspeakers and Crown amplifiers.
Twickenham Stadium has been home to the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and England Rugby since 1907, hosting its first match in 1909. The stadium’s 20-year-old system was no longer of functioning at a high level, so the RFU turned to Vanguardia to create a system that would offer the high sound pressure levels it required for the entertainment element alongside the intelligibility vital in a life safety PA/VA solution.
“The opening line to the team was that it had to be a compliant PA/VA system,” explains Steven Carver, venue project manager, RFU. “We had to make sure we were achieving British standard recommendations within the stadium bowl. Without the stadium PA system to actually broadcast those emergency messages, obviously the stadium couldn’t function, so it’s one of the key parts of the stadium.”
“Life safety is absolutely critical,” adds Mark Lynch, executive director, RFU. “That’s the fundamental part of delivering and running any major stadium. But the fan experience is becoming more and more important. Creating that fan experience through audio is key, and it goes beyond rugby. We do concerts here, we do conferences and events and actually changing this place to make it a really multi-purpose stadium is underpinned by a quality audio system.”
The system incorporates JBL Professional VLA Compact line arrays in an installation-friendly package that is IP-rated to resist damage from water ingress or other weather concerns. The VLA-C clusters are supported by AWC cabinets, which serve as the underbalcony fills to extend coverage throughout the space. Finally, PD6322s have also been supplied to cover the pitch when the stadium is hosting events.
“For us it was about trying to get a quality audio experience for every single fan in every single seat, that is where JBL came in and the product has been absolutely amazing,” says Lynch. “When we heard it for the first time, the smiles on the faces of myself and the entire team were absolutely brilliant. You can see it from the fans, and the feedback we get now from fans about the overall experience led by those JBL speakers is unbelievable.”
Audio power is courtesy of Crown Professional’s DCi series amplifiers utilizing DriveCore technilogy that’s designed to provide high power but efficient amplification. These have been networked over Dante to provide audio distribution from the centralized DSP location out into the remote rack rooms. The Crown amplifiers support the life safety element of the system with the ability to monitor the integrity of the loudspeaker circuits, which is one of the key functionalities of the DCi series.
“It really is a fantastic system,” notes Joe East, Project Director, Sound Technology. “I’ve been fortunate enough to come to a couple of games and just listening to comments from other spectators along the stands, it is clear that it has made a really significant improvement to that matchday experience.”
“It’s phenomenal, it has a really punchy sound and clear announcements that lead to a great atmosphere,” says Daryl Prasad, Vanguardia, with Eddie Thomas of Clair Global Integration Europe adding, “It sounds really good and everyone is happy with it.
