Community Delivers the Sound for the First Olympic-Size Ice Rink in Singapore
Electronics & Engineering (E&E) has completed the installation of a Community sound system at Singapore's first Olympic-size, ice rink at JCube.
Owned by CapitaMall Trust, JCube is located out of town in Jurong East. Managed by CapitaMall Asia, JCube differentiates itself from the usual shopping and dining mall experience with the ice rink in the center of the building. The 60 x 30 meter rink has a 460-seat gallery and can be used simply for community skating or for more competitive sporting events including speed or figure skating and ice hockey. The space can also host live streaming events and concerts.
The sound system at the JCube rink provides both high-intelligibility speech and entertainment-quality music, and additionally allows for the multi-use requirements of the venue. To meet the specifications of the rink’s management, E&E worked closely with Community’s Singapore-based Director of Business Development, Thomas Mittelmann, who liaised with the technical team at Community’s HQ in the U.S.
Seventeen WET W2-2W8 loudspeakers are mounted around the rink edge. The W2-2W8’s dual, 8-inch, horizontal drivers, with a centrally-located, 1-inch horn, provide the optimum 120-degree horizontal dispersion required for the venue. Additionally, the W2-2W8’s extreme, all-weather capabilities handle the environmental conditions of the rink, and its provision in white ensured the loudspeakers blended perfectly with the venue’s aesthetics.
In addition to the distributed W2-2W8 system, the audio design includes a ceiling loudspeaker system for the audience areas. The upper spectator stand is comprised of thirteen, D8, 8-inch, coaxial, ceiling loudspeakers. The D8 loudspeakers deliver consistent coverage with their Tru-Phase, high-frequency waveguides providing a wide uniform dispersion. In the lower stand, there are thirteen, Community D6, ceiling loudspeakers, providing the same consistent quality as their larger sibling, but equipped with 6.5-inch, low-frequency drivers. Ten, Community D4, ceiling loudspeakers and four, Community DS8, surface-mount loudspeakers are installed at the back of the house.
Five, Ashly Audio NE2400, 2-channel amplifiers power the Community loudspeakers. The network-enabled amplifiers feature full control and monitoring capabilities via standard 10/100 Ethernet protocol and Protea software. An Ashly Audio NE4250 amplifier powers the back-of-house system.
Processing is provided by a Symetrix Symnet, 8x8, digital, signal processor, supplied with SymNet Designer software that equips the rink with more than 300 DSP modules, including feedback elimination, loudspeaker management and auto mixing. The built-in modules enable the audio engineer at the rink to switch quickly and easily from one processing mode to another, depending on the function of the rink, at any given time.
Completing the audio system is a Mackie 1642-VLZ3, 16-channel, compact, recording mixer and Shure SLX24/SM58, handheld, wireless microphones for concert-type events.