Originally holding 15,000 spectators, the Pardubice Stadion Arnošta Košťála saw its capacity declined over the decades since its 1931 opening to just 1,000 before a complete 2021-23 reconstruction to meet Czech First League criteria. Key to this resurrection were the EAW loudspeakers and Powersoft Quattrocanali amplifiers installed by Czech integrator Forsound.
Commonly known as the CFIG Arena, the stadium now seats 4,620 and is home to FK Pardubice, who hosted their first match in the revived stadium in 2023. In a modern football venue, the sound system must serve match-day announcements and help create atmosphere, but must also function as a safety system. That requires meeting defined speech transmission index (STI) targets for emergency voice evacuation.
Two further constraints shaped the design of the Czechia stadium – avoiding the construction work and disruption that installing a new signal cabling infrastructure meant working within the confines of the existing one. Given that it would be operated day-to-day by stadium staff rather than audio technicians, the finished installation also had to be safe and reliable in the hands of users without technical training.
Lukáš Sekera, system designer at Forsound, addressed the cabling constraint by designing the system around a Dante network running over existing fibre-optic cabling. Building the audio and control distribution onto infrastructure already in place eliminated the need for new signal cabling entirely. This minimised construction work, while also keeping things scalable and straightforward to maintain.
Amplification is provided by five Powersoft Quattrocanali units distributed around the stadium. This includes three Quattrocanali 2404 DSP+D and two Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D, delivering 2.4kW and 4.8kW respectively across four channels in a single unit. Distributing the amplifier locations around the venue rather than centralising them shortens loudspeaker cable runs and supports the uniform coverage the design required. The DSP+D versions provide integrated signal processing and Dante connectivity in the same chassis, while Powersoft’s SRM (Smart Rails Management) technology maximises efficiency and reduces power consumption across the varying load conditions of a stadium system.
The loudspeaker system combines two EAW MQ Series enclosures with a distributed array of weatherproof coaxial units. The weatherproof IP rating throughout reflects the demands of permanent outdoor installation in the Czech climate, while the distribution of cabinets around the playing field was optimised to achieve uniform SPL and intelligibility at every seat.
The operational requirement was met through a custom control layer combining Powersoft’s WM Touch wall-mounted touchscreen with PLC automation. The WM Touch is a PoE-fed 4.3-inch panel connected over standard ethernet, giving control of sources, zones and scenes from a single interface. Configured for this installation, it provides one-touch system startup and operation, with an emergency override built into the automation logic so that evacuation announcements take precedence over all other audio without operator intervention.
‘The existing fibre backbone was the key to this project,’ says Sekera. ‘Once we designed around Dante, we could deliver a completely new audio system without opening up a stadium that had only just been rebuilt. The Powersoft platform gave us the processing and network connectivity in the same units, so the distributed amplifier positions did not add complexity. The other half of the job was making sure that on a match day, someone who is not an audio engineer could walk up to a screen and run the whole thing safely.’
‘Today, the sound is clear in every seat, and the system is simple enough for anyone on our staff to operate,’ says a representative from stadium management. ‘That’s exactly what we were looking for.’