Cockburn Ice Arena is Perth’s largest ice-skating facility. It has two ice skating rinks – Rink 1 is generally for public use, and Rink 2 primarily for state ice hockey games. Figure skating, curling and other ice activities are offered here. The venue also hosts a bar & grill, café, skate shop and dance studio.

When the venue opened seven years ago, Perth’s Mega Music installed the original PA – a single central cluster in each room. Selected again to upgrade this during a recent overhaul, Project Manager Craig Tucker explained that, after much hinting, the owners “eventually got the idea they needed speakers along the grandstands,” – a much better sonic option for the rooms.

Unable to perform any acoustic treatment to the walls, ceilings, or ice floors, they agreed on a linear run of boxes to overcome the high ambient noise floor. Music playback is the main content, but public announcements need to cut through and be heard clearly.

HARSH CONDITIONS

The Mega Music team worked with the venue operators who “even went (so far as to) to bring in a dehumidifier, because it’s needed for all the rinks.” Why, might you ask? “Because all of the electrical stuff gets wet” understates Craig. Not just a bit soppy either. As they’ve found in the past, “we’ve helped repair speakers in other similar venues, and often we’d find the cabinets full of water!” 

Now, that is patently unhelpful for either sound or safety. We all know that water and electricity don’t mix well and preventing that from occurring became a major focus for this job. Of no less importance was enhancing the audio volume and quality. Finding components to satisfy both key criteria became the real test.