The Helong Stadium in Changsha, China is a 55,000-capacity multipurpose facility, predominantly used for football. The stadium regularly hosts China’s national team fixtures, as well as large scale music events featuring Chinese and International artists.
To maintain its position as a leading sports and cultural facility, the Stadium’s management recently took the decision to comprehensively renovate its audio capabilities. With an overall brief to address the dual issues of high-quality speech intelligibility and music reinforcement, the Helong team wished to achieve a balance of ‘clearly audible’ stadium announcements and ‘pleasantly enjoyable’ music listening. The project was undertaken by Zhejiang Tongbo Vision Technology, who installed a Coda Audio system.
The audio challenges faced in stadiums are many, including vast open spaces and often complex tiered seating. On this occasion, owing to a busy schedule of forthcoming major events, Tongbo also faced a very intense schedule with a limited timescale in which to complete the installation. Drawing on its extensive experience of major installations and detailed understanding of Coda Audio’s advanced technologies, the Tongbo team worked around the clock to complete the installation, from design and preparation to commissioning, in a remarkable 12 days.
The system at Helong Stadium primarily deployed Coda Audio loudspeakers from the HOPS range (high output point source). In the grandstand areas, 32 x HOPS12i (full-range, three-way) are driven by 8 x LINUS14 DSP amplifiers. A system comprising 8 x HOPS12T and 8 x PW418 subs, driven by 8 x LINUS14 is used for mobile performances within the venue, whilst 6 x HOPS5 driven by 2 x LINUS6.4 amplifiers covers the VIP area.
A spokesperson for Tongbo commented: “Optimised for speech intelligibility and music performance, the new Coda system at the Stadium constitutes a major leap forward in audio performance, maintaining exceptional clarity for announcements, with uniform coverage and a natural listening experience in every seat, from the front rows to the furthest reaches of the stands. It will significantly enhance the audio experience for both sporting events and cultural activities, setting a new benchmark for venue acoustics.”
David Webster, global head of sales and marketing for Coda Audio added: “Tongbo have once again excelled themselves with this installation, particularly as it has been completed in such a short time. We’re very proud to see a Coda system trusted to deliver audio at this high-end international-class stadium.”