High-end loudspeaker systems in France Audiolite, an Adamson dealer in France, has completed the installation of a permanent system for the Football Stadium of Lorient with 42 Adamson Metrix W enclosures. Adamson Systems Engineering develops and manufactures high-end loudspeaker systems. The Stadium’s new sound system is mainly used for speeches and sports-event entertainment segments including music, but occasionally the venue is used for larger events such as the Festival Interceltique de Lorient. The installation design was carried out jointly by Audiolite and DV2. On the site, project supervisor Franck Fily, sound system designer Sylvain Turpin – who was also in charge of the system alignment, rigging expert Lionel Gillet and cable manufacturer Jord Mallejac placed three clusters of 6 Adamson Metrix W’s in the North bleachers and four clusters of 6 Adamson Metrix W’s in the Presidential bleachers.
The Football Stadium of Lorient with 42 Adamson Metrix W. Images: Adamson Systems Engineering With the system’s permanent placement outdoors at a close proximity to the salty winds of the Altantic Ocean, many anticipatory steps were taken to guarantee the system’s longevity. First, was waterproofing it against humidity using a special paint for the birch enclosure. It was then varnished inside out with a special varnish covering every inch of the wooden surface. The usual Speakon connectors were removed and replaced with strain reliefs–directly to the box. The speaker components were tropicalized, further waterproofing parts such as the already weather resilient Kevlar cones. All rigging hardware including frames and pins were galvanized. The grill was constructed from aluminum, instead of the usual steel. With the special rigging hardware and unusual coverage area, the W’s proved a fine choice. “Due to difficult rigging point options, a vertical area of 90 degrees had to be covered with each cluster, making the Adamson Metrix W’s 15 degree vertical coverage essential” comments DV2 Technical Director Didier DalFitto. Turpin adds: “We needed to find a system that would fix the problems with the old speaker system,
which had bad coverage and frequency response, as well as insufficient SPL for this specific venue. The Adamson ND-8LM 16 Ohm drivers made us gain some savings due to less cabling and amplifying. We put six Metrix W LF & HF’s on two channels of a Lab.gruppen C68:4”
The Adamson Metrix Series timely arrival to the marketplace allowed Audiolite to meet the demands of the venue on budget The Adamson Metrix Series timely arrival to the marketplace allowed Audiolite to meet the demands of the venue on budget. The buyer has been very satisfied with the upgrade: “The coverage and the vocal intelligibility are top notch. The new system cannot even be compared with the old system that was there before. Now, all the spectators receive quality sound, thus improving the ambiance in the stadium during the games.” Sylvain Concludes. (Stadiaworld, 23.02.2012)