Bose Pro audio at the New England skating club

Details: Written by Redacción ISP Integración; Category: Case Studies; Published: March 07, 2024

The Skating Club is New England’s premier figure skating club and has created a community for over 100 years.

In September of 2020, The Skating Club moved into a state-of-the-art, 180,000-square- foot training facility in Norwood, Massachusetts.

The new facility includes three skating rinks — including the Olympic-size Tenley E. Albright Performance Center — catering to figure skaters at every level as well as hockey players. Also included is The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention providing skaters with strength and conditioning options; The Studio, which meets the growing need for dance training and choreography; The Frieling Family Club Lounge to provide a sophisticated, private space boasting a bird’s-eye view of the Performance Center; and The Club Library and Academic Center.

Focused on providing enough space to nurture the talent of skaters at every level while allowing them to host competitions, the Club’s leadership was committed to the expansion of the original facility while maintaining the community it has built over the last century in the New England area.

Maintaining the club’s historic presence while upgrading the holistic experience

In 2011, The Skating Club of Boston realized it was finally time to find a new location to call home. The original building, built in 1938, housed a single skating rink with a sound system that had been damaged through both moisture and use, making it impossible to have a clear, seamless sound experience during practices and events.

The Skating Club invested significant time over the last several years to define a design and vision that would house the club and community for the next century. The goal was to create a best-in-class skating facility with the finest audio experience possible supporting elite figure skating events.

This vision included an audio solution that provided the highest quality for both voice intelligibility and music — especially important in the new 2,500-seat Performance Center given the Club’s status as a member of US Figure Skating. This solution would deliver a superior audio experience for performers on the ice, judges and the audience in the stands.

A unified audio solution to seamlessly integrate the needs of all the club’s spaces

The audio solution was the result of collaboration across a group of experts brought in by Doug Zeghibe, CEO of The Skating Club of Boston, and his team. The audio design expertise included senior design consultant Pete Thompson and engineer David Shapiro from ACT Associates; as well as the Ambient Sound Team who oversaw and were responsible for the full installation and programing of the multi-rink system. Daniel Govoni, associate vice president for Northstar Project and Real Estate Management, managed the design and construction of the project.

The resulting audio system integrated the specific needs of multiple rinks, meeting rooms and public spaces into a unified solution, delivering vocal intelligibility while accurately representing the vast variety of music selected for each competing skater.

Bose Patinaje 1 HI

We had a lot of confidence in Bose Professional going into this project. Bose Professional has a history with figure skating at big events and helping to create the audio experience needed for performers — whether it’s the US championships or whether they augment the overall US figure skating experience going into any facility. We knew they were the right choice, shared Zeghibe.

The Performance Center — the Olympic-sized centerpiece of The Skating Club’s new facility — is equipped with the ArenaMatch AM20 and AM40 loudspeakers that provide corresponding 20°/40° vertical coverage patterns. A ShowMatch SMS118 subwoofer was added to provide extended low-frequency response down to 29 Hz, and
a PowerMatch PM8500N configurable power amplifier provided the concert-quality sound to deliver an Olympic- level sound system.

The West Figure Skating Training rink offers seating for 1,500 spectators and is specifically designed to support a variety of competitive figure skating events. Its system consists of ArenaMatch Utility AMU105 loudspeakers specifically built for zone-fill coverage and high-SPL while delivering tonal balance in a compact design, and a
ShowMatch SMS118 subwoofer, all powered by PowerMatch PM4500N and PM8500N power amplifiers.

The East Multipurpose rink is a dual-purpose space for both hocky and figure skating and features a ShowMatch sound system, which also includes a ShowMatch SMS118 subwoofer to support low-frequency needs and is powered by a PowerMatch PM8500N power amplifier.

Throughout the shared public spaces and meeting rooms, from The Micheli Center to The Club Lounge, Bose Professional products were used to provide background music and paging and announcements, ultimately providing a comprehensive, diverse audio solution for this Olympic- level venue.

Setting the tone for another century of skating excellence

The skaters’ performances depend on a great sound system, and an overall superior audio experience is key for the viewing audience and performer alike. The staff did not want to have to augment the installed audio system with supplemental loudspeakers, like they have had to do in the past.

“It’s critical that skaters clearly hear all speech and musical arrangements”, stated Mario Pregoni (Production Manager Ambient Sound). “Otherwise it could result in miscues during performances. “When the skaters and staff first heard the new Bose Professional audio system, they were simply amazed at the full sound coverage and the user-friendly interface!”

It’s not just the staff who noticed the immediate improvement in the audio throughout the facility. Guests and skaters alike have commented on the improvement on and off the ice. “Our members are very proud of The Skating Club — from both an environment to practice as an athlete and when the Club host events”, added Zeghibe. “They are not getting this caliber of audio experience anywhere else in the country, and our Bose Professional sound system really sets us apart”.

Bose Professional products are used throughout the entire facility — from ceiling loudspeakers in conference rooms to wall-mounted controls and the DSP audio system. It’s a rock-solid, very stable, easy-to- use system, adds Thompson.

The Bose Professional quality sound ensures that — regardless of the event or space — the audio is clear and crisp and delivers an exceptional audio experience.

“Our experience with Bose Professional was great. They treated us as a partner and not just a client”, shared Govani. “Each member of the team was integral to the fantastic results we have today”.

The Skating Club’s new home is now a very prestigious facility and a source of great pride for this community, and the resulting facility-wide audio solution surpassed everyone’s hopes.

Since audio plays such a critical role in skating events at every level, the years of planning and collaborative efforts paid off, resulting in a world-class home that any organization would be proud of.

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