Sarawak Stadium host SUKMA in 2016, a Malaysian sporting event held once every two years. To make SUKMA successful, facilities need to be upgraded with the latest technology. Sound reinforcement system is the top priority list for the organizer. It is the main communication system between the event organizers to the spectators and every performers and athletes on field. A good sounding, high quality audio and durable system is a necessity for the stadium with requirement of 90 dB evenly across the front-to-back seats. The variance of the dB must not exceed +/- 3 dB with extra 10 dB headroom and frequency response must be linear. AVEM and local system integrator with the help from Audiocenter’s Systems Engineer, Roshan Malim, did the system design and Ease simulation. Main challenge of designing for a stadium is that it was not built to be PA friendly venue. It was built in 1995 with simple PA system in mind. There was no consideration of proper rigging point for future expansion at that time.

Vew of Stadium Sarawak with Audiocenter LIne Array installed by AV Electronics MarketingGreat view of Audiocenter line array facing the field and facing the audience seating in Stadium Sarawak, a project by AV Electronics MarketingStadium Sarawak Sound System by AV Electronics Marketing 6

In designing a venue, speaker position is one of the most crucial criteria for a good sound. This was the biggest challenge the system designers faced due to unavailability of installation point at the position they found that will provide the best performance. Furthermore, future maintenance is one of the considerations in mind. A hanged cluster of array at the top of the stadium will make any maintenance work extremely difficult. Using crane for maintenance work is out of the question as the heavy machinery will damage the floor of the stadium. To ensure the clusters is accessible for maintenance crews, the clusters are installed directly below to the catwalk. Each cluster point also come with a fix hooking point. It is for the purpose of chain hoist usage for lowering down or flying up the cluster. Maintenance work in midair is dangerous and this method enables a safer environment for the crew to solve anything from the ground.

Once the position is determined, 6 units line array are hanged in a cluster. Total of 8 clusters of array are flied to provide coverage of the audience. Another 4 clusters of array is facing the side audiences. Due to unavailability of mounting area at the side, the side clusters are position at the edge of the main audiences area with the panning aimed at the side. Not forgetting the athletes on the field, 4 clusters of array is facing the field. A total 32 units of power amplfier are used to power up a total of 96 line array cabinets.  Requirements specified in the competitive tender were a direct SPL of 90 +/- 3 dB on 99% of the audience seats; Audiocenter technicians recorded the system as having a highest SPL of 108dB, with uniform distribution on all seats.

Delay due to long cabling and difference in cluster position, signal latency and signal drop are reduced to minimum by using fiber optic transmission. From the main audience side to the opposite audience side, the deployed fiber optic is approximate 650meters in length. In contrast, a standard 12 AWG loudspeaker cable has a 5.32 dB loss for 650 meter which means the decision to use fiber optic in between has helps the project team to solve a major hurdle. Each cluster is managed with a DSP processor, making the system an extremely high DSP processing in term of horsepower. Reverberation and echo are reduced to minimum by tweaking the audio signal. With extremely powerful SMAART 7.5 and highly skilled and certified SMAART Engineer, we removed the annoying frequencies and re-align the whole audio spectrum tailors to the venue. The system perform even better when the full crowds presence during SUKMA 2016 which will officially opened in 22nd July 2016.