SK Rapid stadium, Vienna

Since July 2016, the Austrian Bundesliga’s Sportclub (SK) Rapid has had a new home. Over the last 17 months, the new base for this well-established football team – the Allianz Stadium (or West Stadium as it is known in international competition) – has been developed on the site of the former Gerhard-Hanappi Stadium in the Hütteldorf district of Vienna. Accommodating around 28000 spectators, this new stadium has been built by the Viennese construction company STRABAG.

As a venue for international football matches, the Allianz Stadium required a sound system that would meet UEFA requirements – serving both as a PA system and a voice alarm system. This was planned by Honeywell Life Safety Austria GmbH, who were also responsible for the media control system. When choosing loudspeaker systems, the decision was made to go with weatherproof, passive, horn-loaded, 2-way loudspeakers from Fohhn.

In accordance with the technical requirements, LSG Group installed around 52 stadium loudspeakers. These have been mounted in pairs under the spectator stand roofing, with one speaker always covering the lower front rows and the other speaker covering the upper rows behind. In the corners of the stadium, loudspeakers have been mounted in clusters of three.

Fohhn has supported this project from the start, with planning engineer Frank Strohmer and sound engineer Ralf Freudenberg taking care of the detailed calibration and alignment of all the loudspeaker systems.