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Metro Radio Arena Newcastle Adds HK Audio Install
Home to the Newcastle Eagles basketball team, the Metro Radio Arena Newcastle recently added an HK Audio install for additional audio impact during home games.
Owned by SMG Facility Management Worldwide, the Metro Radio Arena Newcastle is the largest concert and exhibition venue in the North East of England. Covering an impressive 40,000 square metre site, the Arena is capable of hosting the very best in entertainment, with up to 11,000 seating capacity for concerts and a 6,500-seat capacity for basketball games.
With Northern Rock now onboard as a new Eagles sponsor, NR Marketing Director, Dave Henderson was inspired by a basketball game he saw during a recent trip to the USA, to re-create the same type of ‘street’ vibe for Eagles home games in the Arena. Henderson consequently called on Gary Nicholson’s Q Music (Northern) Ltd. to provide an audio, lighting and visual solution to bring his vision to reality. The Arena’s existing in-house 100v line PA system is optimised for public address, with speech audibility deemed to be fine in the banked seating areas surrounding the basketball court - however, with no speakers being aimed directly at the basketball arena, both intelligibility and audio impact were lacking at court-side, and at the spectator areas adjacent to three sides of the court.
Q Music’s brief was therefore to design and install an additional in-house system, specifically for use at the basketball games, a system capable of delivering the required audio potency and visual spectacle, along with adding some pre-match ‘theatre’ for the teams coming on, building up the home game atmosphere in the arena. For the audio solution, a/v experts Q Music turned to HK Audio, their long-preferred pro audio brand.
As the speakers had to be flown from a gantry, 54 feet above court-side, full-range enclosures with exceptional throw and controlled coverage were required. HK’s ‘Installation Line’ proved to have the perfect solution in the form of the IL15.2, a 15”/2” enclosure, capable of very high speech intelligibility, combined with the enhanced low frequency response and dynamic range needed for the task in hand. Six of these cabinets are carefully positioned to provide the necessary coverage to the 3 court-side areas, with the bottom end augmented by two flyable RL118F horn-loaded 18” subs.
Three HK’s VX2400 2.4kW amplifiers power the system, offering ample sonic headroom whilst a combination of Pioneer and Technics DJ products, Allen & Heath mixer and Sennheiser radio mics complete the audio package along with a healthy dose of Martin lighting and smoke products providing the visual ‘razzamatazz’.
“Once again, with the support of JHS Northern Pro Audio Sales Manager, Neville Raine, we’ve been able to select just the right products from the HK Audio range to achieve the necessary musical impact and intelligibility,” comments Q Music MD, Gary Nicholson. “Newcastle Eagles are delighted with the quality of sound and court-side coverage.”
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