Velodrom Berlin

The Velodrom in Berlin is undoubtedly an impressive event venue. With a self-supporting steel roof structure with a span of 115 meters, it is the largest of its kind in Europe. The impressive hall with a total diameter of 142 meters offers space for up to 12,000 visitors. A highlight in the event calendar is undoubtedly the renowned Berlin Six Day Race, which is held on the 250 meter long cycle track made of Siberian spruce. But the Velodrome is not only a venue for high-class cycling, but also acts as a stage for a wide range of events, including corporate events, television shows and performances by top international acts such as AC/DC, Peter Gabriel, Rammstein and Robbie Williams.

Given the diverse range of applications, the requirements for the sound reinforcement solution are particularly demanding. Ensuring clear transmission of announcements amidst a six-day race with thousands of whistles and enthusiastic cycling fans posed a significant challenge for the engineering firm GenePurp Event Engineering. In addition to excellent intelligibility, the two specialist planners, Ivo Walter and Ralf Bauer-Diefenbach, had to ensure that the sound reinforcement system also met the highest standards of audio quality for concerts or television shows, a task they accomplished with great success.

Christoph Wöhler, Senior Consultant at Kling & Freitag, remembers: “Fine-tuning the system in the velodrome was an extremely demanding task. The room certainly has an acoustic life of its own, which is why extremely directional loudspeakers are required. Thanks to SPECTRA, we can precisely control where Sound energy should arrive and where it should not, so that the room is stimulated as little as possible. The result after the fine tuning is convincing in every respect. Speech intelligibility is excellent, the impulse is clear and precise – the system meets the highest demands. I am extremely satisfied and wish the Velodrom team lots of fun with our SPECTRA loudspeakers.”

VOICES

„The Kling & Freitag SPECTRA 212 loudspeakers fulfill their tasks excellently in the Velodrom. The speech intelligibility and sound quality are first-class. In everyday life we can rely on the sound system components without having to constantly deal with them. The solution from Kling & Freitag works smoothly, be it at cycling events, corporate events or concerts. Our sound system is there, and has been continuously since the first minute.“

Tobias Wiggert
technical project manager at Velomax GmbH

 

„We took over the planning of the sound system, the AV network and the media control in the VELODROM and were also actively supported by Ralf Bauer-Diefenbach with the simulations and measurements. Based on the EASE AURA simulation, we developed an optimal sound reinforcement concept for this venue.

For us as specialist planners, it is particularly important that the simulation data from the loudspeaker manufacturers reproduce a realistic picture, which we achieved excellently here. After we first determined the real reverberation time using pyrotechnics and incorporated it into the simulation in EASE, Ralf Bauer-Diefenbach and I were able to place and align the loudspeaker systems extremely precisely, so that all aspects of good, clean sound reinforcement were achieved in advance in EASE.

First of all, the sound system from Kling & Freitag had to compete against various systems from other well-known manufacturers in an extensive comparison. SPECTRA was able to really shine here, especially in terms of loudness and headroom, because recordings of loud crowds from a stadium were played over the existing sound system for the listening test. At this moment, even non-experts became aware of the important assertiveness that SPECTRA demonstrates.

As part of the final measurements, a perfect match with the computer simulations was found and it was shown that SPECTRA 212 is perfect for use in the velodrome and represents a significant improvement in speech intelligibility, sound level distribution and generally the musicality of the system. In addition, the permanently installed NOMOS XLS subwoofers now complement the system in the bass range. We provided selective sound for the standing areas behind the stands with GRAVIS 8 loudspeakers. By the way: the architectural requirements that no loudspeakers are allowed to hang below the ceiling lights were also met 100% – true to the motto: “The eye is also listening.“

Ivo Walter
GenePurp Event Engineering