The international audio industry is currently seeing a rapid increase in significant installations of complete Yamaha systems, where the high quality of the products are married to the superb skills of local installation companies.
These partnerships often result in entire networked audio solutions being selected for high profile installations, where the seamless integration of product and skills excellence is raising the bar of professional audio excellence yet further.
A prime example of such a partnership has recently been undertaken in the town of Mantorp, Sweden,
In Sweden,Travsport (trotting or harness racing) is second only to soccer in terms of nationwide popularity. Huge crowds attend the races, where horses race round a dirt circuit pulling jockeys on two-wheeled buggies.
Based in the southern city of Mjölby, installation company Mediacenter was founded in 1996 by Mattias Björkman and Patrik Oskarsson. Combining excellence in computers and audio, the company’s client base knows it can be relied upon to deliver consistent excellence in both industries.
On the audio side of the business, Mediacenter has a long association with Yamaha Sweden. And when the company was awarded the contract to upgrade the audio system at the trotting circuit in the nearby town of Mantorp, it was an obvious choice to seamlessly integrate Yamaha’s product excellence with Mediacenter’s installation expertise, installing a networked audio solution of unrivalled quality.
The 6000-capacity Mantorp circuit is Sweden’s third biggest trotting stadium and, technically, the installation was very sophisticated. The quality of the distributed sound from microphone to audience had to be excellent in both the indoor facilities and around the huge outdoor track, while ease of use for the staff was also a key priority.
Timed to be completed in time for one of the circuit’s biggest events of the year, the winter V75 race, the reliability of Yamaha’s equipment and Mediacenter’s expertise of had to be 100%. But by dovetailing perfectly together, they ensured that the ambitious project passed off without a hitch.
Because of Travsport’s huge popularity, it’s also a sport which generates massive income. So the audio quality of the new system needed to be of the highest quality - quality which could easily be delivered by Yamaha’s Installation series and Concert Club series loudspeakers, driven by XH, XP and XM series amplifers, which deliiver crystal clear, powerful audio but without any colouration.
Controlling and mixing the audio is an ICP1 intelligent control panel which works with a DME64N digital mix engine equipped with two MY16-AE 16-channel AES/EBU I/O cards, one MY8-AE, eight channel AES/EBU I/O card, three DA-824 8ch D/A converters and two AD8-HR microphone preamps/AD converters.
The DME64N is both the heart and the mind of the system, controlling a range of microphone and line level sources, allowing the triggering of sounds and pre-recorded segments by GPI (General Purpose Interface). The system is set up to provide 23 completely separate audio zones.
Driven by the XM4080 amplifiers, 20 Concert Club series C112V speakers are installed under an exterior roof which runs along the venue’s restaurant, at the race finish. The C112Vs are complemented by the track’s original horn loudspeakers, now driven by Yamaha XH200 amps. However, unlike the original system, the versatility of the DME64N means that it delays these speakers to provide a much more uniform and clearly intelligible external sound.
The rest of the loudspeakers are installed within the track’s various indoor facilities. The betting hall features eight Installation series IF2112s driven by two XP2500 amplifiers, while 12 IF2112s and eight time-delayed IF2108s are located in the restaurant, driven by six more XP2500s. Perfect audio quality is especially important here because it’s where, as Mattias Björkman says, “the people with the big money sit!”
There is also a public area featuring four further IF2112s, driven by another XP2500, while four conference areas feature two IF2205 speakers in each area, driven by an XM4080 amplifier.
The entire system is controlled by the race host / commentator. For each event he will choose one of five main ‘scenes’, controlled by the ICP1 intelligent control panel, which correspond with the five race scenarios that all the events at the Mantorp circuit come under. The scenes set the audio system up as it will be required for that particular event, which makes control of the system extremely straightforward.
The DME64N also sends audio feeds to the track’s own studio for internal television broadcast. This system was built by Mediacenter in 2005 and broadcasts to around 70 monitors in the venue. An important role of the DME64N here is to ensure the sound is delayed slightly to get perfect synchronisation with the images.
The system is also used for background music and - most importantly - for the big build up to the start of each race. The race host plays suitably fanfare-like music to build up the atmosphere, then triggers an audio sample in the DME64N which counts down to the start and then actually starts the race.
Four wireless microphones are provided for link sections, plus another for the restaurant chief to make announcements. As well as the race host having overall control of the system, the simplicity of operation allowed by the DME also means that the race referee has a measure of control as well, in order to make important announcements. He has three options - damping of music sources, priority over all other microphones and priority over all audio sources.
With the winter V75 race fast approaching, the Yamaha installation was completed on time, within budget and the system performed flawlessly.
“The race was a complete success,” says Mattias Björkman. “The management of the stadium forwarded me a lot of mail afterwards from people saying ‘I just want to tell how good the audio system at the circuit sounds now.’ We also had very good reports in the media, so we are very pleased.
“We have a very good relationship with Yamaha Sweden and the quality of the product is unsurpassed,” he continues. “I’m both happy with and proud of the system, it’s the largest we have built and we have had a lot of praise.”
With Mediacenter already working on improving the audio system in the stable area, and with other Travsport circuits regarding the audio system at Mantorp with interest, the part that Yamaha is playing in improving the enjoyment of the sport for the Swedish fans only looks set to get bigger.
