City pool Pula-Pola, a new leisure complex in Croatia, has invested in a high-tech Work Pro audio system for its swimming pool area to ensure that customers can enjoy music while they swim and – more importantly – clearly hear any public safety announcements.
Located in the city of Pula, the pool is a focal point for the local community and regularly hosts events such as swimming lessons, competitions, aquarobics and swimming parties for children. As speech intelligibility was a key requirement of the new audio system, installation company ISKRATRADE had no hesitation in specifying products from WORK PRO, the installation, pro audio and lighting division of Equipson.
“Wall to wall tiling and other hard materials make swimming pools one of the most challenging acoustic environments for an installation company to deal with,” said Robert Wolf, CEO of Rijeka-based ISKRATRADE, which was tasked with specifying and installing the new audio system. “As well as reverberation and echoes, we also had to factor in ambient noise caused by people talking, chatting, splashing and generally having a good time. However, the directivity of the WORK PRO speakers, combined with good placement, enabled us to complete this project effectively and deliver a system that sounds good in all areas of the pool.”
The system installed in Pula includes 15 WFS 10 CX speakers, which were chosen for two reasons – their directivity and their ability to withstand moisture.
“Obviously, with an environment like a swimming pool where the air has a high moisture content, you need products that are waterproof,” Robert said. “These fibreglass speakers are specially designed for spaces and installations that are wet and humid and have a protective water resistant fabric covering their steel grilles, making them ideal for this project.”
The system also includes an eight output WSE 81 starting sequencer and power distributor that allows users to link various devices and implement a general start sequence; a Digiline MX processor that can automatically handle functions such as pre-set changes and channel mutes; a Work Pro PA4120 4-channel amplifier; a completely programmable eight zone SPS8 Smart Paging Station that doubles as a paging microphone and an audio streamer and can also act as an alarm manager; WRD 255 handheld wireless microphones that include features to eliminate noise caused by distance or other devices on the same bandwidth; a WPE 26N loudspeaker management system for the pool space; Zenith amplifiers and a Club Master 1 mixer housed in a mobile rack.
The whole system is run by Work Pro WorkCAD Designer software, which manages audio through TCP/IP and USB, and a wall-mounted WNC 1 Ethernet programmable controller that is able to control input sources and volume.
“We completed this project at the end of 2018 and our customer is delighted with the end result,” Robert added. “The sound quality is superb and that all important speech intelligibility is spot on.”
