Lithuania’s newly opened Darius and Girėnas Stadium has made history by becoming the first venue in the country that meets UEFA’s highest (Category 4 or “Elite”) requirements. The largest stadium in the Baltic states, the venue boasts an impressive 15,000 seat capacity under its roofed tribunes, with the ability to accommodate 30,000 people during concerts. The stadium’s sound system was entrusted to Lithuania-based AV supplier Audiotonas, whose team of experienced professionals chose technology from RCF in keeping with the stadium’s Elite requirements.
A total power of 96 kW feeds 32 x RCF P 5228-L speakers in clusters of 4 modules each, which are installed evenly along the entire perimeter of the space. An additional 78 x RCF P 1108-T loudspeakers provide coverage for the lower ring of the stands. Four units of RCF HL Series are installed to provide for playing field coverage, while RCF AYRA studio monitors are setup for monitoring at the console position.
Within large venues spaces, it is crucial that the interacting sound waves of individual acoustic sources reach the listener simultaneously, improving overall speech intelligibility. To achieve this, Audiotonas engineers programmed precise delays for each loudspeaker, including two different delay line scenarios that the system operator can switch between with the touch of a button.
In addition to the primary sound system, the stadium is also equipped with a separate fire alarm and evacuation system, which meet strict EN54 standards. The EVAC system combines more than 500 RCF speakers and is divided into 29 audio zones, designed to provide clear and comprehensible audibility of alerts.
Darius and Girėnas Stadium’s networked sound system was designed for an extremely high degree of reliability, complete redundancy and a secure digital audio network using DANTE and AVB digital signal protocols. The stadium features five server rooms with audio amplifiers located at equal distances. These rooms are connected by a quadruple fibre optic ring of digital audio links. This enables comprehensive integration of the in-house sound system with networking options for concerts and other large events.
