Bose Professional Assures an IMMERSIVE SOUNDSCAPE At Sardar Patel Stadium – The Largest Cricket Stadium in the World
1,10,000 spectators to enjoy Bose sound at Motera Stadium; ArenaMatch range of loudspeakers deployed as main PA
Various models of the Bose ArenaMatch have been deployed throughout the facility to precisely address these aural requisites - with the three sections in the venue i.e. The Lower Bowl, The Upper Bowl and VIP area featuring multiple units of the AM10, AM20 and AM40 boxes in meticulously planned specific configurations.
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they arrived for the “Namaste Trump” event on 24 Feb 2020, held at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which is now the world’s largest stadium, surpassing Australia’s Melbourne Cricket Ground.
When the stadium officially re-open’s for international cricket matches, reportedly sometime in March, spectators will be treated to a pristine sound experience, courtesy, Bose Professional Audio.
The Bose team that spearheaded the install. From l-r: Pankaj K Singh - Design Engineer, Navin Datta - Engineering Head, Bose Professional India and Vibhor Khanna - Country Manager, India and SAARC
Constructed by Larson and Toubro (L&T) and spread over 63 acres with a seating capacity of 1,10,000 people; the colossal stadium now boasts an immersive soundscape thanks to its new comprehensive audio system from Bose Professional comprising a total of 158 units of the globally acclaimed ArenaMatch series. The system was primarily acquired to efficiently and effectively meet the venue’s increased aural demands and it creates a record of sorts for Bose Professional as a brand in India, as it now stands are the largest comprehensive sound system deployment from Bose Professional in a permanent installation in the country.
“Vibhor Khanna, Country Manager – India & SAARC, Bose Professional, commented: “We are extremely happy with the sound system installation at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, and we are proud and honored to have deployed this system in light of the historical significance of the venue. This is the largest stadium in the world and I consider this installation as one of the feathers in the Bose cap. This is an amazing opportunity to showcase our latest ArenaMatch speakers from the DeltaQ family of arrays and the whole company is energised by this contract, which is among one of our largest permanent installations in India to date.”
Reports affirm that the ArenaMatch system from Bose Professional was chosen as the preferred system for the venue after an on-site simultaneous live demonstration was conducted featuring three of the most reputed loudspeaker OEMs available in the country.
“The Bose Professional ArenaMatch line of loudspeakers was launched during ISE in 2019 to coincide with the unveiling of the ArenaMatch installation at Philips Stadion in Netherlands, which provided consultants, SIs and end users an opportunity to witness the system’s sound quality, consistency, vocal clarity and flexibility in outdoor venues such as sports stadiums, arenas and outdoor entertainment centers. After our return from ISE, we approached the Gujarat Cricket Association and L&T who was the master contractor, and it was suggested to have an on-site shootout between three of the industry’s most reputed PA brands. After evaluating the performance on various parameters, the authorities hailed Bose’ ArenaMatch system as the clear winner, and this is how we bagged this prestigious project,” says Vibhor, as he adds, “Our systems are perfectly suited to the demands of this world-class sporting arena,”.
It is revealed, however, that since the ArenaMatch system had just recently debuted at the time, the brand had to make special arrangements to ensure that the demo was executed perfectly as planned. Navin Datta, Engineering Head- Bose Corporation shares, “At the time of the shootout, the company had just recently launched the product, so it wasn’t even available for demo. We had to request the head office to support us with the demo units, which were then shipped to India just in time for the shootout, and the outcome of that promptly arranged but wonderful demo, actually almost closed the deal for us.”
Intimately involved in the planning of the sound system deployment, Bose Professional was instrumental in guiding the GCA in setting up a world-class audio system. “The design of the sound system had some inherent challenges of meeting the very high SPL levels required for stadium application; while ensuring acceptable STi levels, given the high ambient noise levels of such large arenas” says Datta, as he shares that the main challenges in commissioning the system involved delivering crystal clear sound experience at every seat while maintaining the 90 dB SPL norm and assuring an STI of 0.5 or above from already defined speaker mounting locations.
Various models of the Bose ArenaMatch have been deployed throughout the facility to precisely address these aural requisites - with the three sections in the venue i.e. The Lower Bowl, The Upper Bowl and VIP area featuring multiple units of the AM10, AM20 and AM40 boxes in meticulously planned specific configurations.
While the Lower Bowl area features 16 arrays of four units each of the AM10, AM20 and AM40; the Upper Bowl area sports a total of 19 such arrays. Bose products are also used in three of the VVIP sections and the Banquet area within the VIP section.
With the Panaray 402 featuring a full-range-driver array and being fully outdoor rated, a total of 11 units have been installed in the VIP section and 10 units in the VVIP section, eliminating the need for tweeters and crossovers, to provide unsurpassed reliability and vocal clarity. Furthermore, 10 units of the Panaray 402 and 6 units of AM40 have been deployed as point source to cover the banquet area within the VIP section.
The Articulated Array design, with wide 120° x 60° coverage, reduces the number of required loudspeakers, while the 73-Hz low- frequency range reduces the need for subwoofers, providing a cost-effective solution.
As Navin affirms “The system, as a cohesive unit, delivers clearly audible commentary and voice announcements to every seat in the venue.”
To deliver maximum power till the speaker end, Bose had to customize different types of speaker ‘cable thickness’ for different array positions, depending on the circuit lengths. The entire system is controlled through four strategically located control rooms, all connected over Dante. Navin shares, “We used Bose EX-1280 C processor, which is a Dante enabled (64X64) DSP. It has on-board ‘Logic/Control’ to interface with third party devices, and the same is used to interface with ‘Fire Evac’ system of the BOH areas. Being Dante enabled, it can communicate to various amplifiers installed across four control rooms, seamlessly!”
With affirmations of the system creating quite the positive impression, Vibhor concludes, “This design provides seamless coverage, volume and clarity for fans in all areas of the stadium. This major installation illustrates the depth and clarity of our high-performance speaker systems and we look forward to further installations in similar venues in the future.”