Anticipating hosting the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships with a sound system that was installed 20 years ago for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, the Hafjell Nationalanlegg decided a new system was required. The investment is part of a major overall upgrade of the national slalom slope, financed by the Norwegian Government.

Located north of Lillehammer, Hafjell is one of Norway’s largest ski areas, with a starting point 1,030m above sea level and a vertical drop of 835m. During the Winter Olympics in 1994 it was the venue for the slalom and giant slalom events and is the now the national arena and training facility for these disciplines. Following the Olympics, the resort was further developed and currently consists of 30 trails serviced by a cable car, three chair lifts and 11 ski lifts. Hafjell and its co-owned neighbouring venue together form the largest ski resort in Norway with 73km of runs.

Design of the new sound system was handled by Bjørn Fjeld of Norsk Lydteknikk and the installation was completed by Lillehammer-based Østbye og Sletmoen. It was designed for the highest quality for speech and music, and for possible future expansion. With these requirements, the Symetrix Radius and Community loudspeaker systems were chosen for thir sound quality and Dante network compatibility. Clockaudio mics are used for commentary and announcement.

‘The new equipment had to be of the best possible quality to deliver both speech and music, and capable of being adapted to future requirements,’ Fjeld says. ‘In line with these expectations, the Symetrix SymNet Radius 12x8 DSP was selected because of its ‘studio sound quality’ and its powerful support for Dante media networking.

Fjeld highlights the ‘robustness and easy-to-use nature’ of the SymNet Radius 12x8 DSP, adding that the combination of Community and Symetrix ‘also gives us the opportunity to use Community’s digital FIR filters (1024 taps) in the Radius’ speaker management module to help deliver optimal performance of the whole system.’ It should also be noted that deployment occupies significantly less rack-space than the previous system.

‘We chose Community R Series loudspeakers based on many years of experience using them on ski slopes across Norway,’ he continues. ‘They provide outstanding audio quality and unequalled reliability in this type of environment. The coverage patterns and throw are also excellent, and critical for covering large outdoor areas.

‘The original system, considered the best in its time, comprised two massive racks of electronics. One 20U-high rack with a modern DSP-based loudspeaker system has now replaced that and will provide Hajfell with a system that we’re confident will meet its needs for the next 20 years. For the participants and audience alike, the new system also substantially raises the audio quality for their involvement and enjoyment.’

This is a busy time for Norsk Lydteknikk, which added Symetrix to its distribution portfolio a little under 12 months ago: ‘It’s early days, of course, but we are already seeing some great sales for the SymNet Radius line and the Jupiter app-based DSPs,’ Fjeld reports. ‘We are looking forward to sharing the advantages of Symetrix equipment to an even broader base of users in 2015.’

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