Since the 2007 world championship victory, handball fever has spread all across Germany, a development that Hildesheim fans nonchalantly acknowledge with a satisfied nod of the head.
After all, this town in Lower Saxony can consider itself a trendsetter, for it was here some time ago that this dynamic indoor sport emerged from under the shadow of football. Over 2000 fans from Hildesheim and the surrounding area flock to the home games to enthusiastically cheer on their local team. However, their spirits were dampened for a long while by the lack of a premier league stadium specially designed for the needs of the team. An arena was needed, a seething cauldron with an atmosphere to bring the opposition out in a cold sweat, even before the day of the match.
Extensive redevelopment of the Pappelallee sports hall
The Hildesheim “Stadt- und Sporthallen-GmbH (Town and Sports Hall Company)” was aware of this problem and decided to redevelop the Pappelallee sports hall, a rather rough-looking concrete block from 1957 with room for only 900 spectators. Fortunately, neither the investors nor the architects let the drab appearance of the building put them off, as despite its age the building was still structurally sound. Three million euros were earmarked to take this plain hall and create an impressive arena from it. The new stadium, now called the “Sparkassen Arena”, holds a total of 2435 spectators.
During the construction work, which took place between July 2006 and March 2007, the overhaul included much more than just renovating the old building; an extension with a glass-fronted reception area, an approx. 140m2 food dinning hall, modern showering facilities, plus a 400m2 VIP lounge with buffet and circular bar were also added.
Acoustic design
The suspended ceiling was removed from the main arena hall for visual and acoustic reasons. This had the effect of not only making the hall look a great deal more spacious, it also benefited the acoustics. The Engineering company AMT was contracted to carry out an acoustic survey. The company, with its headquarters in Isernhagen, Hanover, specialises in media technology, spatial acoustics, environmental protection and building acoustics, and provides cross-disciplinary solutions for architects, planners and developers. Their suggested measures focused on reducing reverberation in order to specifically improve speech intelligibility. It was agreed that perforated profiled sheeting would be fitted to the ceiling over the north-east and north-west stands. In addition, for music events the stands can be separated with Molton curtains to further reduce reverberation time (Molton is a dense, non-flammable material from 100 percent cotton for sound absorption). Additional measures will be implemented as required – such as the addition of acoustic panels on the walls.
Table 1: Achievable reverberation in the sports hall at 1000Hz
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Variant 1 Acoustic measures, perforated profiled sheeting Achievable reverberation at 1000Hz |
Variant2 Acoustic measures, perforated profiled sheeting and acoustic wall lining Herakustik Micro Achievable reverberation at 1000Hz |
Variant 3 Acoustic measures, perforated profiled sheeting and acoustic wall lining Ecophon Wallpanel Super G Achievable reverberation at 1000Hz |
Variant 4 Acoustic measures, perforated profiled sheeting and Molton curtains Achievable reverberation at 1000Hz |
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| Empty hall | 3,5 | 3,1 | 2,8 | 3,0 |
| Hall with 800 people | 2,4 | 2,2 | 2,1 | 2,0 |
| Hall with 1600 people | 1,9 | 1,8 | 1,6 | 1,0 |
| Hall with 2500 people | 1,5 | 1,4 | 1,3 | 1,3 |
The PA system installed by Audio Werft, Hildesheim
Which takes us to our next topic: the PA system! Just like AMT, Audio Werft also offers a comprehensive range of services – they were responsible for setting up all the event technology and rigging in the arena. This specialist company from Hildesheim has adopted a user-friendly "one-stop" philosophy covering all major event segments, from loudspeakers through light and video technology to stage design. Their services include sale and rental of equipment as well as planning, installation and expert operation of installations.
At the Sparkassen Arena, Audio Werft Managing Director Matthias Mehler and Event Technology Specialist Simon Buchholz were not only responsible for providing all the gantries, the media technology and a modern electronic score board, they also installed a complete audio system using Yamaha equipment for almost the entire signal path – something of a novelty for installations in German arenas. All the loudspeaker systems in the arena itself, the power amplifiers, loudspeaker controls/processors as well as numerous media players (CD/DVD) are made by the Japanese company.
Yamaha signal path with DME24N as control centre
The heart of the system is a Yamaha DME24N digital processor, a digital mixing engine in which all the microphone signals (from the presenter, the control room, radio and the press) and line signals (from the media players CD, PC, DVD, etc.) arrive. The DME is used to amplify, convert, route and process signals. To be precise: after the initial D/A conversion, the signal travels through a programmable routing matrix and then through user-configurable effect and dynamic components (EQs, delays, compressors, limiters, etc.), which are important for the mix and loudspeaker management. After that the audio signals are transmitted to the Yamaha power amplifiers (6 x XP7000, 3 x P2500S and 1 x XH200) via the DME outputs and sent from there, freshly amplified, to the loudspeaker system.
In the arena itself, 18 Yamaha Installation series full-range loudspeakers (IF2115 in passive mode) are suspended directly above the stands. In the food hall, the foyer and other areas of the stadium are additional loudspeakers (8x JBL Contractor as well as 26 x Penton 100V ceiling loudspeaker), which are also controlled by the DME24N.
The great advantage of using Yamaha DME technology is that after being installed by a specialist, a one-off process, the entire system can easily be controlled by an amateur. Before commissioning, an audio specialist will save all the planned sound scenarios for the individual zones (spectators, foyer, food hall, etc.) in the form of presets. These can then be called up as and when required by the arena staff.
This enables the event organiser to save money and, at the same time, prevent the painstakingly installed system from being incorrectly adjusted. Should any adjustments be necessary, then the Audio Support team can log on to the DME via the internet and tweak the system from their own offices. If the DME is fitted with a network card (EtherSound™/CobraNet™), then complex digital audio networks can be created that will reliably transmit up to 64 digital audio channels over long distances via conventional patch cables with no loss of quality.
The DME in the Sparkassen Arena is set up so that the in-house operator can sit in the control room and remotely control all signal volumes in the various sound zones (e.g. the 4 stands, press box, food hall and foyer) via two GPI operating panels (CP4SF). No specialist knowledge is required.
Matthias Mehler and Simon Buchholz from Audio Werft on the system
Audio Werft MD Matthias Mehler, a man of conviction, comments as follows about his system: "Depending on the budget, in an arena of this size there will inevitably be problems, especially with the sound, but these can soon be dealt with by making small compromises. In this case, our task was not to turn the arena into a huge disco, but to ensure a high level of speech intelligibility for the public. So a pitch sound was ruled out. The system also had to fit in with the natural atmosphere created by the fans. In other words, thethe announcements should not detract from the overall mood."
Despite this the system is anything but simple, as Mehlers event technology expert Simon Buchholz explains: "We've used high quality audio technology, as the components in a Yamaha signal path are not only very well matched, they're also extremely reliable. And high reliability is the highest priority for the investor."
Also, when the teams march out it's usual to play loud music to get the crowds going, adds Matthias Mehler. It’s got to have that spine-tingling factor. So he opted for Yamahas Installation full range loudspeaker with its excellent bass reproduction – and not for simple voice loudspeakers with a limited frequency range.
Although the Eintracht Hildesheim (Hildesheim United) team have been having a bit of a rough time since they were promoted to the first division, there's has been a distinct improvement in their performances since they moved into their new stadium. Of course, this isn’t just down to the modern technology installed by Audio Werft. But the system definitely makes an important contribution to the fantastic atmosphere in the arena - and spurs the team on. One enthusiastic Eintracht (United) fan is especially pleased with the great atmosphere in the Hildesheim cauldron: Audio Werft's MD Matthias Mehler…
About Audio Werft e.K.
This specialist company, with its headquarters in Hildesheim, adopts a user-friendly "one-stop" philosophy covering all major event segments, from loudspeakers through light, media, fair, conference and video technology to stage design.
The services provided by the company, which was founded by Matthias Mehler in 1991, include the sale and rental of equipment as well as planning, installation and expert operation of installations. Audio Werft places great emphasis on customer support and has experienced staff ready to answer technical queries relating to any of the above areas.
Audio Werft e.K.
Daimlerring 6
31135 Hildesheim
www.audio-werft.de
info@audio-werft.de
Proprietor: Matthias Mehler
