AUDIO
ENVIROVENT STADIUM Harrogate, England Images: Pro Audio Systems
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n August 2020, Harrogate Town FC were promoted to the English Football League (EFL) for the first time in their history thanks to a 3-1 victory over Notts County in the National League play-off Final at Wembley. With promotion came new responsibilities. The
league’s regulations precluded the use of the club’s Wetherby Road (EnviroVent) stadium’s synthetic pitch, and, as a narrow window of time did not allow the work on a replacement to be completed before the start of 2020/21 season, Harrogate Town arranged a temporary ground-share at Doncaster Rovers’ Keepmoat Stadium. Comfortably maintaining their new league status during a season largely played in empty stadiums due to Covid-19 restrictions, the club, with work on a new grass pitches completed, prepared to return home. Other EFL infrastructure criteria also had to be met at the EnviroVent, one of which was provision for a permanent public address system, which according to the League’s regulations required ‘… adequate speaker output to relay information to all spectator areas, as required by the local authority, with the ability to interrupt for safety announcements from the stadium control room’. With the possibility of a future further development of its facilities, the club sought to install a high quality, future-proof system that could be expanded if required. Sheffield-based technical services specialists, AVLS Technical, who had previously supplied temporary pre-match PA requirements on a hire basis, were engaged by the club to consult over the permanent installation. The club’s plan at this stage was to upgrade audio provision in four of the ground’s six distinct areas, and work with their existing set-up in the remaining two. Tom Vickers, Partner at AVLS explained: “When we took a close look at what was required, it was quickly apparent that it wasn’t a simple case of dropping in a few speakers, so we spoke to Pro Audio Systems for some advice. They came highly recommended, and our contact turned out to be Dave Simpson, who we’d worked with many years before when he was at a different company. It felt like completing a circle! Dave and his team focused their attention on supplying us with the best tools for the job, and after explaining his thinking, suggested that he discuss a potential system with RCF. It definitely turned out to be a good call.” Dave Simpson, Projects Director at Pro Audio Systems, duly recommended a system based around RCF’s range of loudspeakers. RCF have a long history of supplying audio for stadia around the world and offer a comprehensive range of products to suit every scale and type of stadium application. Confident in his selection of the brand, Dave then worked closely with Francesco Venturi of RCF’s Engineering Support Group, who assisted the project by providing design options for the different areas of the stadium’s stands and communal areas, using EASE prediction software. The chosen system predominantly comprised products from RCF’s compact,
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