Viking Line?s new cruise ship installs Allen & Heath systems

Noretron Audio, Allen & Heath’s Finnish distributor, has agreed a new deal with Viking Line Abp to install iLive digital mixing systems and MixWizard analogue rackmount mixers in the company’s new M/S Viking Grace cruise ship.

iLive systems, comprising iLive-T112 and iLive-T80 Control Surfaces with iDR-48 and iDR-16 Mix Racks equipped with DANTE network option cards, as well as a total of seven MixWizard WZ316:2 rackmount mixers, are to be installed in the ship’s night club and several restaurants and conference rooms.

Noretron is also supplying all other entertainment audio, including loudspeakers, amplification, wireless microphone- and IEM-systems.

According to Viking’s AV manager, Jouni Sironen, the new audio systems have been designed to deliver optimum sound throughout the ship. Allen & Heath iLive systems are also installed in several of the company’s other ships and have endured constant and heavy use – approximately 18 hours per day, seven days per week, all year.

The ship is being built in Turku shipyard run by STX Finland Oy and will begin operating in January 2013 between Finland and Sweden. Viking Grace will also be equipped with advanced, environmentally-friendly technology, as it will be the first large scale cruise ship in the world to use LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) for its energy source.

Jorma Tikka, Noretron Audio’s Senior Sales manager, commented: “This project is challenging and at the same time rewarding. We at Noretron are proud to be part of the project and look forward to seeing a technologically advanced cruise ship on the Baltic Sea. Cooperation with Viking Line has been smooth from the very beginning. The customer had a clear vision of the desired results, which in turn made the planning stages of the entertainment audio systems straightforward for us. Installation, testing and system tuning will take place by the end of 2012. Thanks to the renowned brands Noretron represents, I am totally convinced that the entertainment audio of Viking Grace will be world class.”

Keep up to date with the latest developments from the world of pro audio by registering for our free daily newsletter.