What sort of system do Football stadiums use? (Surprisingly good)

[JeremyFife]

Hi,
I went to a football match (I'm in the UK: soccer) for the first time in an age.

Mid sized club, 8,000 capacity stand essentially outdoors.
I was surprised by how decent the sound system was (yes, I'm not a natural football fan). In a stand approx 110m long, 6 monitors (so, 18m apart at least 18/20m away from me) played easy rock/pop/dance at a volume we could sing along with. No bass to speak of, but pretty natural mid-range and vocals.

Got me wondering: what sort of system is behind that.
Interested.

Thanks

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

Impossible to say without photo of the loudspeakers. Should be standard professional reinforcement ("PA") loudspeakers.

 

[DJNX]

It’s a line array.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

Not all sound reinforcement loudspeakers are line-arrays, especially those in small stadiums - as in OP case.

 

[JeremyFife]

Thanks both. I couldn't see any detail, but the monitors were single, cube, boxes.

Interested in what sort of power, and processing sits behind them. I do realise that there is nothing much to go on here!

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

I couldn't see any detail, but the monitors were single, cube, boxes.

Like this?
https://www.rcf.it/en/products/product-detail/nx-945-a

Conventional, but high quality sound reinforcement active loudspeaker with 15" midbass and 4" voice coil compression driver with horn. Bi-amplified, total amp wattage 2000 W, internal DSP.

 

[JSmith]

8,000 capacity stand

This one?

Broadwood Stadium - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I couldn't find any info about the specific audio system used there... as others said it could be a combination of line array and point source speakers.


JSmith

 

[JeremyFife]

Thanks for the posts - making me wish I'd taken pictures, but I was there for the game. They were just cubes. Difficult to gauge the size, but perhaps 1m square. No idea what was inside.

Falkirk football stadium, Scotland

 

[JSmith]

They were just cubes. Difficult to gauge the size, but perhaps 1m square. No idea what was inside.

Falkirk football stadium, Scotland

Ah, here we go;

Unique Productions - Our Recent Projects

Public Address Installations in stadiums, churches, shops and warehouses. Podcast Editing and Production.

uniqueproductions.co.uk

PA System Design & Install - Falkirk FC

Falkirk FC play in the second tier of Scottish Football at the modern Falkirk Stadium.

The old PA system had been in place since 2004 and was failing with black spots and poor sound quality. The remit was to provide a system capable of creating an atmosphere with loud full range music and clear announcements. This was achieved by changing the speaker locations and installing cabinets with wider dispersion and better projection.

The Nova Kira speaker was chosen with Nova amplification in all seating decks. The system is now widely regarded as one of the highest quality systems in Scotish Football.

NOVA - KIRA Series - Coaxial Speakers and Corner Mount 18" Subwoofer

JSmith

 

[JeremyFife]

Amazing @JSmith thank you

 

[Waxx]

Some user line arrays, some use horn systems from Function One or Danley Labs or similar. It alll depends on what the club wants. But all systems used are heavy processed to make all the speakers work toghetter and get a coherent stadium sound when done right.

The ones i know use Function One horn systems suspended from the ceiling of the stade, like in the arena of Club Brugge KV (the one i know, because i know who installed it).

I thought RSCA Anderlecht (the other big one in our Belgian competition) uses Turbosound style horns in their stadium, hanging from the ceiling of the tribunes. It could also be Danley Labs or other similar brands of horns. But i'm not a football fan, so i don't know.

 

[Multicore]

But all systems used are heavy processed to make all the speakers work toghetter

I've often wondered about that and just can't imagine what to do. Can you elaborate?

 

[Waxx]

I've often wondered about that and just can't imagine what to do. Can you elaborate?

It's complicated to explain in a forum post, but it's processing like they do with line arrays on festivals, only the public is more concentrated to specific zones and does not move. It's a very specialised job, something i don't know the details from, but phase and time aligning is one factor, coverage of the whole stadium an other. Flat response and neutrality are less a concern i thnik. They guy who did the stadium of CLub Brugge KV did need quiet some time to get everything right and altough it's a fixed setup, he still regulary is there to tune the system i hear. I have no experience myself doing this kind of jobs, i was (and am in a certain aspect, but i'm retired from sound engineering) in high power dj systems with point-source speakers. But a lot of back problems killed that career about 20 years ago, so now i work in IT.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

We need to recalibrate what we have been led to believe. Some Public Address would "wipe the floor" with with many home systems in term of sound accuracy and frequency range.. Let's not talk about sheer SPL where these PA systems are in a different galaxy...
I heard a system in North Florida University stadium and the darn thing sounded so good , I had to ask what was the manufacturer was, only to learn in was an all Danley Sound.. As full range as you will ever get at home and capable of stupendous SPL...
We may not need that level capacity at home, but I would surmise as examples that the Danley Synergy , perhaps the SH50 or 60 + The DS-10 subwoofer, would be an interesting challenge to established objective Home Audio stalwarts... for HT or music and yes, this include our Neumann or Genelec ... On objective performance...


Peace.

 

[dasdoing]

I've often wondered about that and just can't imagine what to do. Can you elaborate?

they use software. EASE beeing probably to most widely used. It will calculate the response for you at any given place after you feed it with a 3d model and speakers

 

[Ze Frog]

Doesn't surprise me, PA gear has improved vastly over the years. I've often used drivers intended for such in D.I.Y builds and some really top notch stuff, especially from the likes of Faital, Beyma and Precision Devices.

 

[dasdoing]

PA gear has improved vastly over the years.

they are all DSP corrected (magnitude AND phase) nowadays; even the crossovers are digital. even my cheap Brazilian side-fill is

 

[dasdoing]

Kira12 looks pretty bad in the EASE data actually

 

[ernestcarl]

PA manufacturer web or PA news sites might have more information and case studies about individual installations.

In America:

Sport Venues | Danley Sound Labs

Danley Sound Labs is the go-to audio solution for sports arenas, stadiums, and venues throughout the United States and around the world.

www.danleysoundlabs.com

Sports

Honest Sound

meyersound.com

Sports Stadiums & Arenas | Stadium Speakers | Fulcrum Acoustic

From high school to the Major Leagues, audio clarity and fidelity are increasingly important in creating an exciting, multi-media environment. Our solutions span small arenas to large open-air stadiums. Innovative technologies for compact pattern-control provide a variety of solutions to

www.fulcrum-acoustic.com

Posted this video in another thread some time ago:

A few more details of the system:

Crusader Stadium at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor | Fulcrum Acoustic

Crusader Stadium is the home of the NCAA Cru Football team at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. During the summer of 2021, Daktronics upgraded the end-zone scoreboard and sound system with the goal of doubling the size of the video

www.fulcrum-acoustic.com