A joint venture between Britain’s oldest professional basketball club (Leicester Riders), Leicester City Council and Leicester College, the new £4.5m Leicester Community Sports Arena serves its 2,400-strond audience with sound from Martin Audio’s CDD installation series. Twelve CDD15 loudspeakers were specified and installed by local sound and lighting integrator, MBSL.
Mark Broadhead’s technical company was brought in just two weeks before the venue’s inauguration when it was discovered that while the six 100V line speakers, specified by another party, might have been sufficient for voice evacuation, was and were certainly not up to delivering American style razzmatazz, complete with cheerleaders, in the arena on match days.
With nearly 30 years’ experience and a history of working with Martin Audio workhorses such as the F15, Broadhead knew the products are not only reliable but well supported and offer value for money. ‘We wanted a speaker that would provide even sound dispersion and work reliably – since it would be located 8m up in the air and we didn’t want to be making service calls,’ he says.
‘As soon as I heard the high output generated from the CDD15’s 15-inch coaxial driver, I was bowled over – it produces an impressive punch and delivers over a wide dynamic range. We had also given the client three different options to show them what a 15-inch driver would sound like, and they were impressed.’
With the bulk of the crowd facing each other across the court, Broadhead realised he could provide all the necessary coverage from just four CDD15s on each flank, despite the raucous and reverberant ambient noise produced by the crowd. These are fixed to the ceiling using Martin Audio’s standard bracketry. In one corner at the two end stands, and angled back towards the seating, are two further CDD15s, while from the other corners the final two CDD15s turn to fire into the court.
The system is optimised using the dedicated DX0.5 management system – and despite the fairly cavernous space and different sound sources pumped through it (ranging from commentator mics to DJ computer derived music), no EQ was necessary – and only the limiter needed to be set.
The ease, speed and simplicity of installation had been a further bonus given the fast-fit nature of the project, he reports: ‘The CDDs produce a nice, evenly-balanced sound throughout. We may invest in bass bins at a later stage but there is already a decent amount of bass generated from the CDD15s up in the air – and everyone is extremely impressed.’
Meanwhile, the original 100V line horns have been redeployed for general PA/VA and training purposes only, networked to the main Martin Audio sound reinforcement.
In addition to basketball the venue hosts a local badminton team and in future hopes to stage banquets and weddings and so reconfigurability of the soundscape was essential. Thus the seating can be retracted electronically when the venue is used for other purposes, and since this is a zoned system, the two court-facing speakers can be disabled when not in use.
‘Some of my old Martin Audio systems are still working after ten-to-fifteen years and, unlike other brands, I have never heard anything bad when fitting this brand,’ Broadhead says. ‘The clients know they have good value, and are over the moon.’
