L-Acoustics Sound Systems Find Handball Home

L-Acoustics’ Croatian distributor, Dicroic, reports that it has installed sound systems into two brand-new arenas in Croatia, both built to host the 2009 World Men’s Handball Championships.

The 12,000-seat, state-of-the-art Spaladium Arena has opened in the center of Split, where it’s expected to become the center of important sporting, entertainment, and business events, enabling Split to host events that were previously too large. Further northwest up the Adriatic coastline in Porec, the 3,700-seat, multipurpose Zatika Arena has also opened with an L-Acoustics system.

Established in 1993, Dicroic, also located in Split, has become very active in Croatia and other former Yugoslavian territories, handling turnkey sales and installation of pro audio, video, multimedia, and lighting equipment. Working closely with L-Acoustics’ head of installation support, Cedric Montrezor, Dicroic’s Slaven Tahirbegovic designed and installed three sound systems for the venue.

Spaladium’s main sound system is an L-Acoustics dV-DOSC compact line source system with dV-SUB subwoofers. The auditorium is covered by four arrays, each consisting of nine dV-DOSC cabinets flown below two dV-SUB. These arrays are mounted almost 80 feet above the playing field and can be accessed via the roof’s service area. One cluster consisting of nine dV-DOSC cabinets is installed at the bottom of the LED video cube and used to cover the playing field; this has a variable time delay depending on the LED cube’s height from the ground. Two LA8 amplified controller racks power each cluster. In addition, Dicroic flew eight L-Acoustics 112P active coaxials in the small hall to cover the entire area.

A further L-Acoustics system — two clusters of two SB118 high-performance subs, six KIVA ultra-compact line source cabinets, and two KILO low-frequency extension cabinets, all powered by three LA8 amplified controller racks — is being used as a mobile system to cover the arena from the stage during conventions and shows.

Meanwhile, an L-Acoustics dV-DOSC and KIVA system has been installed into the Zatika Arena, where two clusters consisting of five dV-DOSC and eight (two x four) KIVA cabinets each cover half of the main hall. These clusters, which can physically be divided into two smaller systems for events when the room is split into two, are powered by LA8 and LA4 amplifiers. The playing area is covered by two clusters of three 112P active speakers. Again, the system was designing by Tahirbegovic and Montrezor, with Sali Trade from the nearby town of Pula assisting with onsite installation.

Tahirbegovic is full of praise for L-Acoustics’ technology as well the installation and post-sales support provided by the manufacturer. “After we’d finished the installations, our measurements showed us that we’d done an almost perfect job,” he says. “The audience areas and areas of play are covered 100%t, and speech intelligibility is excellent in both arenas. At all the measuring points, the difference between the sound-pressure levels was less than 1 dB, and the maximum SPL was 107 dB. I truly believe that we’ve designed the best arena and sports-hall sound systems in Croatia.”

Dicroic is L-Acoustics’ Balkan distributor for Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia.