Yamaha System Makes Waves At Dutch Swimming Complex

The 2019 heatwave in northern Europe meant that swimming pools were in extra-high demand this summer. Fortunately for the residents of Purmerend, the Dutch town has one of the Netherlands’ largest swimming complexes and a new Yamaha audio system to make the many activities it hosts even more enjoyable.

Owned by sports and leisure facility company Spurd, the Spurd-Leeghwaterbad complex has four pools in a 55,000m3 building, plus a large outdoor sunbathing area with two further pools. A 15m long by 1.5m high, 10cm thick glass wall in the side of the sports pool connects it with the foyer and reception area, creating a visual impact for swimmers as they arrive.

Based in nearby Edam, installation and rental company Boogy Brothers Showequipment is owned by brothers Johan and Ferdinand Boogaard. Having previously installed new audio systems at swimming pools in the cities of Monnickendam and Volendam, the company was the obvious choice to upgrade the system at Spurd-Leeghwaterbad.

The complex provides many different activities, which rely on its installed audio system. These range from basic swimming lessons for all ages to fitness classes like Aquarobics, FloatFit, immersive yoga, water gymnastics, assistance for people with disabilities, post-illness recovery and a wide range of fun events for youngsters.

Because the audio system has so many different users, the main request from Spurd was for it to be easy to use. It also had to deliver great audio quality and be very flexible in terms of configuration and control.

Having installed Yamaha DME series digital mixing engines many times in the past, Johan and Ferdinand naturally chose the current flagship MRX7-D matrix processor to manage the Spurd-Leeghwaterbad system. It was installed in the building’s central control rack, along with EXi8 and Exo8 input/output expanders and a DCH8 digital controller hub.

The four indoor pools all had new Yamaha CBR series loudspeakers installed, two CBR12 each in the main and sports pool, four CBR12 in the games pool and four CBR15 (on custom-made brackets) in the recreation pool. Elsewhere existing loudspeakers were re-used.

“The CBR series loudspeakers sound excellent and the rigging is good,” says Ferdinand. “We chose CBR15s for the pool where they do Aqua Disco because they wanted enough low end for serious parties!

“Elsewhere the CBR12s deliver enough low frequencies for the activities held in the other pools. Even with the CBR12s, we had to program the MRX7-D EQ to turn down the low end during swimming lessons for small children, because it actually scared the very little ones!”

The system is programmed with nine zones - the four indoor pools, outside pool, outside terrace, restaurant, foyer and changing rooms. The zones are controlled using four DCP4V4S and two DCP1V4S control panels, each one also having local inputs. These are used to connect a wireless beltpack microphone (for activity instructors) and a Bluetooth receiver, allowing music to be played from a nearby smartphone or tablet.

The existing general paging system was kept, routed via the MRX7-D’s GPI connection, with the matrix programmed to allow the paging microphones to override the audio in each zone, if needed. The MRX7-D is also programmed to put the system to sleep at 23:00 every day and to reset everything when it wakes the next morning.

As well as the DCP series control panels, the Spurd technical department has a PC with Yamaha ProVisionaire Control (Kiosk) installed, plus several iPads with ProVisionaire Touch (Kiosk), to control the system. Boogy Brothers have also installed a dedicated PC in the rack with the MRX7-D, allowing them to remotely identify and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

“Spurd and the team at the swimming pool are very happy with the new audio system,” says Ferdinand. “It gets very heavy use every day and the users all understand it. The technical department has a good overview of everything and it sounds great!”