Mt Warren Sports Centre is a four court multi-purpose stadium and gymnasium located in Mt Warren Park, Brisbane. Opened in September 1999, as Beenleigh Arena or ‘The Arena’ (as it was affectionately known), came back under management of Logan City Council in 2013.
Home to a variety of sports and recreational use, including group fitness classes, personal training, corporate and high performance use, sports and tournaments at an International, National and State Level including basketball, futsal, netball, general skating, roller derby and skipping, the Sports Centre enjoys a high level of patronage and a strong reputation in the area.
Since the original system was based around a single audio zone with technology that was over 15 years old, the bustling centre required an audio system with flexibility. The project scope included an AV design flexible enough to handle multiple zones and all the activities that occur simultaneously within this busy venue.
The design phase took into account the different areas and activities of the venue during the day and nights across a 7-day operation. There were 6 zones identified through this process: General, Gym & Cardio, Child minding room, Courts 1 & 2, Courts 3 & 4 and the tiered seating area. The requirement was that each of these areas could have a different activity happening at the same time.
Using his significant experience with the Bose Professional range of products, Greg Nuttall from SoundPoint AV recommended a tailored Bose Professional system for the upgrade and expansion. A Bose ControlSpace ESP-880 processor was chosen to handle all the audio routing capability of the system, with control of each area facilitated via a Bose ControlSpace CC-64 remote control centre mounted near the reception desk.
Ben Witham (Venue Operations Coordinator at Mt Warren Sports Centre) specifically requested that the audio quality of the AV system was to be improved with this upgrade and expansion. The existing horn speakers in the court areas had very poor speech intelligibility and didn’t have the frequency response to play music content. The new installation version of Bose’s Panaray 402 & 802 Series IV loudspeakers were chosen for the court and tiered seating areas. This arrangement of speakers provided excellent speech intelligibility, full-range audio reproduction and even coverage across all four basketball court and tiered seating areas. Although the 802 Series IV speakers are robustly constructed, speaker cages were employed to prevent any possible damage from ball strikes.
A variety of audio inputs were chosen to allow different sources to play in different areas of the venue. A background music player (BGM) with individual outputs allowed DAB+/FM radio, CD player and Bluetooth media connectivity to play independently. Two line level input plates were installed to provide localised audio input for staff or client BYO devices. An AKG headset and handheld UHF wireless microphone system was installed and via extension antennas, provides full wireless microphone coverage throughout the facility. Finally, a paging microphone at reception allowed for zoned announcements.
When asked how the AV upgrade to Mt Warren Sports Centre would improve the user experience, Ben Witham stated, “The sound quality has been dramatically improved through all areas including our gym, public areas & courts. Having a quick and easy paging mic system for staff to be able to address safety concerns or connect with patrons is a fantastic tool.”
The choice to use SoundPoint AV for the audio upgrade came down to the “careful onsite scoping and consideration of equipment and positioning” stated Ben.
SoundPoint Audio Visual Design and Consultancy is a Brisbane based firm specialising in the Bose Professional range amongst a selection of high quality brands. Contact SoundPoint for your AV design and consultation on 07 3139 1533 or info@soundpoint.com.au.
