Horder Communication Solutions recently completed the installation of a community loudspeaker system for the Mega Adventure Aerial Park in Adelaide, South Australia.

The Mega Adventure Aerial Park, which was designed and built by Mega Adventure’s sister company Touch Cloud Global, is the first of its kind in the world and required a system to cover the 25m high open structure with maximum control of overspill.

John Horder from Horder Communication Solutions was commissioned to provide the high quality and cost-effective sound solution following the successful provision of sound systems for Mega Adventure’s other adventure parks. John approached Hills Audio Visual to assist with a design using Community R SERIES loudspeakers.

“We decided to use Community R SERIES R.35-3896 loudspeakers for a number of reasons. They offered superb frequency response and SPL specifications, with a well-controlled dispersion pattern. Additionally, their all-weather capability was suited to the marine environment and their physical footprint suited flying from the structure – they looked great and the colour was perfect. They provide excellent value for money and we were able to achieve perfect coverage from a small number of loudspeakers,” explained Hills Audio Visual’s Blake Kirby.

The brief specified that the system must provide high quality music and speech uniformly throughout all levels of the structure, with no spill to the north and south where a residential holiday park and a leisure resort are situated. Limited spill was allowed towards the golf course to the east but only the western border had no restrictions as this faced sand hills and the ocean.

“We chose to fly two loudspeakers pointing down and to the west where dispersion was not an issue and one speaker down and to the east to fill the pattern, but still reduce spill to the east. Each was driven by separate 200W Class D amplifiers as a single zone. The result in controlled coverage and sound quality was simply awesome. The control of the spill exceeded expectations and the sound throughout the structure is uniform, meeting the specified high quality. Very limited EQ was required, with just a small lift at 300Hz and 10K for subjective preference. SPL from the top level is so uniform as to be indiscernible by participants,” said Blake.

Mega Adventure Adelaide general manager Stephen Grundy said that the structure has all the senses covered.

“It really makes it feel inclusive, especially when there are not a lot of people on the structure.”

Stephen was also pleased with the progression from the existing speakers on the harnessing deck while walking towards the structure, which he described as “seamless”.