Bosch Communications Systems

Located in West Sydney, Marconi Stadium is home to the Marconi Stallions football team. The stadium opened in 1956 and boasts a wide range of facilities in addition to the grandstand and clubhouse, including function rooms seating 50 to 900 people, a casino, gymnasium, bars and restaurants, tennis centre and kindergarden. The facilities cater for 25,000 club members who span a variety of nationalities, including Greek, Croatian, Lebanese, Indian and Vietnamese.

The Bosch Praesideo networking system was chosen for the job, as it was simple to use and easily designed in. The network is controlled via a small control room and supplies video background and music and announcements all around the stadium. This houses five LBB 4424 four-channel amplifiers and two LBB 422 two-channel models which all link to an Electro-Voice N8000 matrix audio unit. The N8000 was customised for the stadium and stores all control information, configuration settings and pre-recorded audio messages in the grounds. A major advantage to the N8000 is that it uses an Ethernet connection; this enables the system to be controlled via a laptop in a remote location.

Much time and money was saved when installing the Praesideo system, as no extra wiring was required. Instead, the communication signals are transported by the optical system cabling. The system also uses a network configuration, which allows easy system expansion as and when required. Redundancy was created in the cables and switches to ensure that any breaks or disruptions in the system would not affect communication; this is vital in the case of an evacuation situation. Also, as noise levels rise during certain games, the output level can be adjusted via an ambient microphone connection. The output then returns to its previous level once the noise has been reduced.

A Praesideo call station LBB 4430/00 is located at reception. Using the PC interface, eight pre-programmed keys allow selected messages to be announced in one touch. Also, music, alarm signals and routing into different zones are all controlled at this location. EV Evid 6.2 speakers were also installed throughout the club.

The communications system has proven to provide clear sound throughout the stadium, with noise being contained within their allocated zones. The simplicity of operating the system was clearly demonstrated during the staff training. Within five minutes, the receptionists fully understood how to use it.