The 42,500-seat Allianz Stadium, one of Australia’s most significant sporting venues, is home to three elite teams across three codes: the Sydney Roosters (NRL), the NSW Waratahs (Super Rugby), and Sydney FC (A-League).
Hosting more than 50 fixtures per year alongside international matches and major summer concerts, the venue demands a sound system that can perform across the full spectrum of game-day requirements from pin-sharp speech clarity for on-pitch announcements and post-match interviews, and raw, to physical impact when pyrotechnics fire and thousands of fans are on their feet.
When Venues NSW wanted to supercharge the game day audio experience to match the world-class standard of the venue, they turned to JPJ Audio to design and install a full-bowl L-Acoustics Kara II system. The result is a change in sound clarity and impact, reinforcing its position as one of Australia’s premier live event destinations.
To deliver the upgrade, Venues NSW selected JPJ Audio following a successful tender process. Already responsible for operating audio systems across multiple NSW stadiums on game days, JPJ Audio brought both operational knowledge of Allianz Stadium and direct experience with L-Acoustics in the venue. The company had previously deployed temporary K2 and Kara systems inside the stadium in sporting configurations and K1 and K2 systems for concert use, giving a first-hand reference for what the space could sound like.
Wayne Mulder, project lead for this installation and who runs the sporting division for JPJ Audio, said: “We had already shown them the benefits of a concert-grade sound system in the venue. From the moment the temporary L-Acoustics system went in, they understood the difference straight away. The challenge was turning that into a permanent solution that worked every day.”
The project brief centred on two equally important objectives: intelligibility for live speech, and the kind of low-frequency impact and high-energy delivery that defines the atmosphere at elite sporting and entertainment events. Both had to be achieved across every seat in a stadium with a five-second RT60.
Allianz Stadium’s five-second reverberation time presented the central design challenge. Any system that excited the bowl indiscriminately would destroy intelligibility. The solution required extremely controlled, localised coverage with sound delivered precisely where it was needed, and nowhere else.
Mulder said: “It meant approaching the stadium almost in sections. You had to keep coverage very controlled and localised so that you were only delivering sound where it was needed.”
To develop the system geometry, JPJ Audio worked closely with the L-Acoustics applications team using Soundvision, combining operational experience from concert deployments in the venue with predictive modelling tailored to Allianz Stadium’s seating geometry and roof structure. The design process was developed in collaboration with L-Acoustics application support and Tom Williams of Clair Global, allowing array angles, subwoofer positioning and coverage zones to be refined before a single speaker was hung.
Mulder said: “Soundvision was critical because if you put the speakers in the right place from the start, you don’t spend a week chasing problems afterwards. The design work gave us confidence that every section of the bowl would behave the way we expected.”
The modelling also informed placement of the subwoofer elements behind the main arrays, allowing JPJ Audio to use low-frequency steering to reduce unwanted energy build-up across the bowl.
Installation logistics added another layer of complexity. With the venue remaining operational throughout and access restrictions prohibiting cranes, Boom Lifts or any contact with the playing surface, new speaker cable and cable paths into the gantry were required with ropes access being the only solution for installation. Every array had to be installed using motors and rope access from the roof structure. This was executed using a load transfer technique across multiple motors, every array started its journey in one of the 4 vomitory before being lifted to its final position over the seating bowl.
JPJ Audio adopted a touring-style workflow, assembling, wiring and phase-checking every array at its warehouse before transport to site. Final on-site loudspeaker deployment took just five days. Mulder explained: “We treated it like a production build. Every array was pre-built, phase-checked and ready to fly before we arrived. That meant once we were on site, everything moved quickly.”
The stadium bowl was divided into four quadrants, each served by five array types matched to seating geometry and roof height. The largest array positions each use 14 Kara IIi with three SB18i; adjacent positions repeat the same loudspeaker count with revised angles to reflect changing stand height. Further positions use 12 Kara IIi with three SB18i, 10 Kara IIi with two SB18i, and eight Kara IIi with two SB18i.
Across the full installation, the system totals 232 Kara IIi and 52 SB18i, all flown beneath the roof gantry on custom-designed metalwork developed specifically to retrofit the stadium's existing structure. A container-style docking mechanism makes lowering the arrays for servicing straightforward, with no tools required at height. A10i loudspeakers were added at each of the two large video screen positions to close residual coverage gaps.
Because JPJ Audio also operates match-day audio at Allianz Stadium, system usability was a design requirement from the outset. Amplification is provided by 78 LA4X, arranged across four amplifier room positions on level four with 19 amplifiers per rack including one hot spare. Signal distribution uses AES67 routed directly from Q-SYS, with six LC16D network audio converters interfacing with the LA4X amplified controllers via AES/EBU.
The drive system utilises the venue’s ICN network of Cisco switches for control and audio distribution, with Q-SYS providing control and monitoring of the amplified controllers via a custom GUI. L-Acoustics Network Manager complements this setup by offering comprehensive system control and monitoring when required.
L-Acoustics live impedance monitoring routinely checks loudspeaker status every minute, enabling operators to verify system health continuously during events. Mulder said: “We wanted something powerful, but also simple for daily use. Operators can walk in, power up the system, confirm everything is healthy and be ready immediately.”
The system was commissioned in time for the first A-League fixture on January 18, 2026, following an accelerated programme that took advantage of a short window for other works. Initial feedback from the home clubs has been strongly positive, with independent third-party review confirming delivery against project targets.
Mulder said: “A lot of game-day presentation now involves pyro, lighting and very high-impact moments. You need an audio system that delivers that energy, but just as importantly, when someone is speaking on the pitch, every word still has to land clearly. That was always the goal, and now we have a system that does both.”