Most Qataris are passionate about horses and take their equestrian traditions very seriously. As a result, there is a surprising number of extremely plush equestrian facilities throughout this small state, including those of the Qatar Equestrian Federation in the capital city of Doha. When the QEF decided that a full upgrade of their public address system was necessary, following major improvements to their indoor and training facilities, they turned straight away to AV-TECH, one of Qatar’s leading suppliers of high end audio, video, broadcast and lighting equipment with a formidable reputation for high quality systems contracting. After much deliberation, AV-TECH engineers eventually settled for a custom-designed solution from Meyer Sound and Community with amplification from Lab.gruppen’s installation-dedicated C Series range.
The installation covered several areas including the main indoor arena and associated warm-up area as well as the main outdoor arena and its associated warm-up area. The areas to be covered were enormous and there were several logistical difficulties to overcome, but eventually the consultants and engineers agreed to adopt a surface element approach as that which provided optimum coverage and the best value for money.
The project included the supply, installation and commissioning of thirty-two Meyer Sound UPJ 1P self-powered speakers and thirty-two Community R.25 horn speakers powered by four Lab.Gruppen C16:4 4-channel power amplifiers in the indoor arena (main arena and warm-up arena). The outdoor arena PA installation included twelve Meyer Sound M2D line array cabinets, sixteen M1D line array cabinets and four Community R1-94z 2 way horn system units powered by a further four Lab.Gruppen C 16:4 power amplifiers. In both arenas, all the speakers were connected to a Midas Venice 16-channel mixing desk and managed by a Meyer Sound Galileo 616 speaker management system.
“Despite the logistical difficulties we had to overcome in mounting the loudspeakers, the combination of MeyerSound, Community and Lab.gruppen delivers the highest quality sound,” stated AV-TECH’s Hadi Arzouni. “We selected Lab.gruppen’s C Series because of their build quality and reliability and their high channel density. You are also able to select your output load per channel which makes them incredibly versatile, and of course they sound extremely good.”
“The PA in all areas will relay the paging calls as well as a mix of sources,” continued Arzouni. “These include the presenters’ microphones, courtside radio microphones and other virtually routed sources. We can route any input we receive from Al-Jazeera Sport Channel or other providers, using our Galileo system, into the court mix,” he explained. The specification called for a full music-rated system (although it will hardly be used as such). “Via the Meyer sound Galileo we have dynamics and EQ on every input (comp, limiters, parametric and gain), while on every output there’s parametric EQ, limiting, delay and routing — this allows us to transmit test signals during the Championships, so we always know what to expect.”
The entire system has now been tested and commissioned and the client (Qatar Equestrian Federation) is delighted by the results.