The distinction between announcements and entertainment PA systems and separate evacuation (PA/VA) systems in sports venues is being challenged by L-Acoustics L-Acoustics, whose growing portfolio of EN 54 certified loudspeakers, amplified controllers’ enclosures and electronics deliver both concert-grade sound reinforcement and hold the certification required for life safety announcements.
These enable system designers and integrators to combine sound reinforcement with compliant voice alarm capability within a single ecosystem. The result is a unified solution that delivers audio performance for everyday operation while meeting the reliability and monitoring requirements expected of voice alarm systems.
Whether the project is a sports venue, a corporate campus or an educational facility, consultants can now specify one integrated audio ecosystem that supports both engaging listening experiences and critical emergency communication. One design model, one commissioning process one set of spares.
The certified range covers the full span of spaces EN 54 applies to, from a single corridor to a full arena. Kara IIi handles the largest volumes, where a variable curvature line source is needed to reach the far seating of an arena, the length of a concourse or the depth of a large hall. Ai Series constant curvature enclosures, in both Wide and Focus variants, cover mid-sized rooms: auditoria and lecture theatres, atria, sports halls, multipurpose rooms and waiting areas. Xi Series coaxial models handle the smaller spaces every building has, including meeting rooms, hospitality areas and back-of-house, where intelligibility matters as much as it does in the main room.
EN 54-16 certification covers the LA7.16i, LA1.16i, LA4X and LA2Xi amplified controllers, as well as the LC16D network audio converter and the LS10 Milan-AVB switch when integrated into the PAVA Facilities VACIE rack. Amplification, processing, monitoring and fault reporting therefore stay within the same platform that drives the entertainment system.
Sports facilities are where performance and compliance collide most visibly. A stadium sound system has to hold intelligibility across tens of thousands of seats, in reverberant concrete bowls and against sustained crowd noise, and it has to do so whether the message is a team announcement, a sponsor activation or an instruction to leave the building. Historically the compromise fell on one side or the other: a voice alarm system pressed into service for entertainment audio it was never designed to deliver, or a high performance sound system shadowed by a parallel compliant installation. The same applies to convention centres, theatres, university campuses and corporate headquarters, all of which combine demanding programme material with statutory evacuation requirements.
‘Our customers were already asking us to cover both jobs, because they could hear the difference between the two systems in their buildings,’ says Germain Simon, Director of Product Management, Loudspeakers at L-Acoustics. ‘EN 54 certification means they no longer have to choose. The system that fills a stadium on a Saturday afternoon is the system that will speak clearly to that same crowd if it ever needs to be emptied.’