INSTALLATIONS
FBT and Pat Rafter Arena
FBT and Pat Rafter Arena
The Queensland Tennis Centre is located in Tennyson, Brisbane, Australia and consists of twenty three international standard tennis courts. The centre court, Pat Rafter Arena, boasts a new speaker system from the FBT Shadow series.
The system was installed in December 2013, just in time for the Brisbane International, which sees the world’s best players descend on Brisbane. Record crowds were reported for the event, now in its sixth year, with over 105,000 fans attending the tournament over eight days.
The new system is based on a distributed design using a mix of FBT Shadow 112CT and 112HC speakers. Both models feature a 12”/1” coaxial driver with the 112HC being horn-loaded for longer-throw applications. The FBT Shadow series are rated to IP55 and are designed for extreme weather conditions. They are made from a single piece rotomolded enclosure, and also include stainless steel hardware and a unique water-stop grill. The Shadow series provide highly intelligible speech and quality music playback. The Shadow Series is a family of outdoor rated speakers from a 5”/1” through to 8” and 12” coaxial models, plus a flyable subwoofer and a high SPL outdoor line array system.
The Pat Rafter Arena has a seating capacity of 5,500 and acoustically is difficult due to the open air nature of the venue. Quite a bit of time was spent in the design phase with EASE simulation software, working on the best speaker locations and angles – the aim being to provide consistent coverage whilst minimising reflections.
The system was supplied to the installation company in under 3 weeks and was one of the first sales by new FBT distributor, Audio Brands Australia.
