Mahajak Development details the work that went into upgrading and elevating the audio systems at His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary stadium where winning the battle against the elements was crucial for success.
Built for the 2007 Southeast Asian Games which coincided with the 80th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej,
the aptly named His Majesty the
King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary
stadium is the fourth largest
stadium in Thailand.
Located in Nakhon Ratchasima
province it has a capacity of 25,000
people which is to be expanded to
45,000 in the future. Seeing that
an extensive expansion is on the
cards in the time to come, the
stadium has started the process
to also revamp its technology
systems to aid in growing the
functional capabilities of the
space. The revamp has started
with a complete upgrade of the
stadium’s audio systems.
Mahajak Development was
the chosen as the integrator
for the project after a
bidding process. Technical
specifications provided by the
client served as the starting
point for the integrator on the
project. These specifications
provided a framework of what
the aims and objectives of the
upgrade project were.
The details provided in the
technical specification guided
the route Mahajak chose. The
stadium had put forward an idea
regarding the kind of speakers
they would need to meet their
performance requirements.
It was up to the integrator to
suggest the particular system
that would deliver the end
results that they wanted.
Once all the parameters
were covered and addressed,
Mahajak used EASE modelling
to ascertain how many speakers
would be required to cover the
entire area of the stadium and
it provided designs to the end
user laying out how the audio
system would be deployed.
These were used as a basis
for comparison with other
competing bids. In the end, the
designs together with the fact
that Mahajak has a long track
record delivering stadium
projects in all parts of Thailand
helped it win the project.
The aim of the audio upgrade
at the His Majesty the King’s 80th
Birthday Anniversary stadium
was to enhance the vocals and
the music played at the venue
with proper levels, clear sound
and lower levels of reverberation.
The upgraded audio system was
also expected to equip the
stadium to handle a range of
different activities and events,
competitions and more.
Mahajak Development’s
proposed design had JBL
VLA Compact series line array
loudspeakers with IP55 rating
as the core component of the
upgrade. The selection of these
speakers was crucial in helping
the integrator overcome the
core challenges of the project.
Products that could resist the
weather and the elements were
essential.
When it came to performance,
the stadium wanted an SPL of
95dB. His Majesty the King’s
80th Birthday Anniversary
stadium has one covered end
with a roof and this was the
only suitable location for the
installation of the speakers.
From this one spot, Mahajak had
to deploy speakers that would
cover the entire stadium.
The throw distance from
one end of the stadium to the
opposite end is quite long and
the stadium is very windy.
Mahajak installed the line array
speakers under the roof and
found that when the wind was
blowing the SPL fell below the
required levels. It took a lot
of tweaking on the part of the
integrator with a little bit of luck
to ensure that the performance
requirements of the stadium
were met.
In addition to the line array
speakers, JBL PD500 series
speakers are installed under the
roof as point source speakers for
delivering sound to the roofed
stand. These loudspeakers are
driven by Crown DCi series
amplifiers and BSS BLU-100
works for sound configuration
and management. Soundcraft Si
Impact mixer supports external
wireless control.
Mahajak was also responsible
for the background music system
in the corridor outside the
stadium. The sound is delivered
by a Crown CDi series amplifier
in conjunction with DBX Venu
360 DSP with a range of JBL
29AV-1 speakers pressed into
service for audio output.
There are a number of legacy
systems that have been retained
and these are not on the network
as of yet. Rather than having just
the upgraded audio system on
the network they chose to not
introduce this variable.
Shure wired microphones have
been provided for audio input.
The decision to go with wired
microphones was driven by the
end user as they wanted ironclad
reliability when capturing audio
from the stage.
Regarding the challenges
faced on the job, Mahajak
identifies the ceiling height
for loudspeaker installation
as the biggest hurdle it had to
overcome. The high ceiling
posed a number of safety
risks and the full scope of this
challenge only became apparent
once the integrator had started
work on site. Mahajak had to
take additional steps to ensure
the safety of its personnel while
also installing the loudspeaker
cabinets, which can get quite
heavy, within the allotted time
frame.
The project was completed
before Covid-19 restrictions
and is ready to receive visitors
and patrons when it is safe to
do so.