A selection of Powersoft amplifiers is being used to drive 30 RCF P-series two-way coaxial weatherproof loudspeakers in Finland’s new Imatra Stadium, home to some of the country’s biggest baseball, ski, roller ski and biathlon events.

For the stadium, located in the Ukonniemi recreation area of the city, Audico Systems project manager Ilkka Hilden specified Powersoft 8-channel Ottocanali amps to accompany the RCF wide dispersion loudspeakers in satisfying the challenging AV element of the venue.

The product selection, Hilden said, had been relatively straightforward. “We had been using RCF P-series for many outdoor applications and knew that they are capable of handling high output and producing very high quality sound. As we are situated in Finland, and the weather conditions are quite harsh, it is a very demanding environment for speakers, and so we specified P3115-T for the audience areas and P6215 for the field, as the distances are bigger.

“As for amplification, the Powersoft Ottocanali 8K4 was also a natural choice throughout,” he continued, “since they are capable of driving both high-voltage and low-impedance speakers.

“These amps also deliver by far the best size/power ratio — not to mention the fact that they sound amazing. Finally, the price/channel ratio was really attractive which is always important when so many speaker lines are required.”

Integrated DSP was not required in this instance, as speaker processing was handled by a third party DSP device.

Henry Tapiola, from the Stadium’s development company Imatra YH, explained, “The speakers had to be placed in so many different locations, so the delay settings had to be carefully considered. We then had to make the whole system easy to use by non-AV specialists.”

Audico faced challenging time scales, since the installation had to be completed and commissioned in time to host a major skiing championship. “We were not sure whether we could get the speakers fast enough and I have to pay major respect to RCF — as those guys must have been working extra hours to make sure we got the speakers just in time!” Tapiola added.

"The sound is perfect for the audience in every corner of the stadium and across the entire site. Both the speech and music stand out thanks to these very modern speakers and the sound is in a different class to that which external sports facilities have previously been accustomed to previously.”

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