Palaonda of Balzano is one of the most important sport on ice facilities in the south of Tirol with a 7,800 seat facility, where the most titled ice hockey team of Italy show of their skills. This amazing sports complex can also be used for concerts, conventions, fairs and many more. The ice rink dates from 1994 and has a rich history of competitions and sports fun. However, the technology does not stand still and the complex was in need of a new audio solution. The search for a professional audio installation began with the public outsourcing of the municipality of Balzano, with AUDAC’s professional expertise and high-end audio equipment, Marco Coletti's PRO LAB company, which has its headquarters in Bolzano, and the Venetian company MOSAICOGROUP began to realize the current audio solution.
In order to fulfil all audio wishes, a powerful installation was needed that can communicate music and speech clearly throughout the sports complex. The choice of speakers and their location was carefully studied by Marco Coletti's Pro Labs. Because of the large open spaces, a good research was needed to create the best possible installation. "The structure's particularly high reverberation times prompted us to prefer horn speakers with controlled directivity waveguide , " explains Coletti. "The system is then controlled by an advanced DSP, with different levels, equalizations and delays for each zone". By working with these ambitious partners, we were able to satisfy a client's needs in these challenging environments.
The installation process started at the end of July 2018 and lasted 30 days. To maintain the best speech intelligibility and sound quality, 16 AUDAC horn loudspeakers HS212 where installed. Due to their IP54 moisture resistance and speakers carriage range these AUDAC products are a perfect fit. With the adjustable brackets, the horn speakers can accurately supply the entire room with music and speech. This was certainly necessary despite the high reverberation. "Their location in a single central cluster is explained by the need to ensure temporal consistency across the entire system, eliminating delays due to different points of diffusion: a task made even more difficult by Palaonda's problematic acoustic response" , continues Marco Coletti.
