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Four years in the planning and a £6 million investment later, the elegant Victorian resort town of Llandudno now has a brand new swimming centre installed with a high-tech Renkus-Heinz and Biamp audio system.
Llandudno Swimming Centre was officially opened by Paralympic gold medallist Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson last summer and sports a 25 metre, 8 lane international competition pool and a 20 metre, 4 lane pool for teaching and training, with seating for 427 spectators and 250 competitors. The centre was awarded £1.5m from the Sports Council Wales Sportlot Capital fund to assist the development.
Both pools, the seating areas and changing rooms are covered by a six-zone, digitally based audio-paging and background music system. It is the largest UK application to date of Biamp’s NPS1 Network Paging Station, which integrates seamlessly with Audiaflex DSP audio distribution over CobraNet. Compact, waterproofed Renkus-Heinz PNX61 dual 6-inch/1inch HF loudspeakers provide high-directivity coverage of the pool and seating areas.
Swimming Centre manager Peter Aldous observed that, “the system gives the facility’s manager a dream of flexibility and sound quality. This combination of technologies gives a centre like ours an audio facility that’s stunning, flexible and affordable.”
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Martin Dawes Solutions were the system integrators and had tendered for the project in 2004, with the backup of Polar Audio project manager Simon Druce.
Paul Berry of Martin Dawes commented, “The brief was to provide PA facilities for various zones within the complex, including the main and learner pools, changing rooms and various staff areas.Our proposal was accepted three years later so we re-appraised the specification to accommodate the most up to date technology. Simon Druce had already proposed Renkus-Heinz PNX61 loudspeakers for the main pool areas, with a Biamp Audiaflex for signal-routing and processing, and those remained at the core of the installation. The biggest change was incorporating the new Biamp NPS1 network paging station, which we saw at its launch at ISE 2008 and felt was ideal.” A gooseneck microphone and dedicated routing switcher originally specified for the reception desk were replaced by the Biamp NPS1, as Berry explains: “The NPS1 links directly via CobraNet into the Audiaflex unit and since the output zoning was already specified in the Audiaflex, the NPS simply slotted in as an integrated product from the outset, saving a lot of time and cost.”
Biamp’s Da Vinci software, running on PCs, was specified as the system’s front end, allowing routing and level control from separate PCs from multiple offices, a highly flexible solution.
The choice of loudspeakers was dictated by the demand for high intelligibility and volume from compact cabinets, with predictable directivity that would help minimise reverberation from the multiplicity of hard roof and wall surfaces in the pool areas. The Complex Conic horn of the Renkus-Heinz PNX61 , powered by Biamp 8 channel 200W amplifiers, met those requirements, and was available in a weatherised version.
“Along with the inherent quality of the product, they amounted to the best solution at the right price,” commented Berry.
A total of 40 WHD UP14/2-4 100V line level ceiling loudspeakers were installed into the ceiling grids, in either standard or marine version according to location throughout the building’s walkways, stairways and reception area, driven by Dynacord Paramus 122SP amplifiers.
The installation is complemented by a Daktronics LED screen, integrated as a general announcement display and race day scoreboard, with availability to advertisers and sponsors.
Peter Aldous added, “It’s clear that that we chose the right products for this difficult environment, and the clarity of both the NPS1 and the Renkus-Heinz speakers is very impressive, while the interface provides very fast access to the system.”
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