After much hype and anticipation, Star City has this month finally opened the doors to Sports Theatre - the second step in the casino’s $475 million redevelopment and a sporting Mecca for Sydney.
“Sports Theatre is unlike any other venue in Australia.
Featuring sporting events from around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Sports Theatre
promises to be a hub for sporting enthusiasts,” said Star City managing director, Craig Garvin.
The ‘theatre” title comes from the 12m-wide mega screen, which is flanked by two 3.4m smaller screens. There are 225 spacious, stadium-style seats from which to watch the action.
Australia’s longest, with a circumference of 46.5m.
On top of the theatre offering, there are an
additional 47 50inch LCD screens that are set in
clusters and hang from the roof of the bar, so you’ll
never miss a minute of the action.
Sports Theatre also boasts Australia’s first paperless TAB and its own restaurant, Fuel.
Despite its name however, Sports Theatre won’t just be all about sports – there will be DJs, bands and podium dancers performing regularly. It is also set to become a popular venue for visiting local and international bands.
Electrovoice C8.2/C8.2LP
Never before has a ceiling speaker system delivered such a full-range punch. The EVID C8.2/C8.2LP, with its specially tuned enclosure, and eight-inch woofer, the speaker system provides amazing bass response. The one-inch waveguide-coupled tweeter give smooth controlled coverage out to 18 kHz. The C8.2/C8.2LP is perfect for flush-mount applications where demand for high-quality audio is desired. The EVID C8.2/C8.2LP features a four-point mounting system to help make installations fast and easy, and comes complete with mounting support, ring-and-tile rails. No additional accessories needed for most installations.
The model C8.2LP is identical to the C8.2, but in a low-profile backcan for tight installation spaces.
Saltec were responsible for the audio visual installation for the new sports theatre and TAB at the Star City casino. The existing showroom theatre at Star City has been transformed into the new sports theatre and TAB. Saltec were engaged by Stowe Australia to install 47 x Sharp 52” LCD screens in the Sports Theatre while 42 x Sharp LCD screens were installed into the TAB. Also installed into the TAB were 84 x LCD Electronic “race board” screens that have eliminated the old fashioned “paper” race wallboards.
In the Sports Theatre the LCD screens have been installed in various sections of the room and have been made a visual highlight as the Screens have been installed in massive rings that are suspended from the ceiling at various heights around the venue. Right around the circular main Bar are 8 x 52” LCD screens that have been installed into the purpose built joinery boxes and are surrounded by LED lighting which enhances the installation and makes the LCD screens a real focal point.
The audio system that has been installed consists of a mixture of ceiling speakers and surface mount self powered loudspeakers. The ceiling speakers areElectrovoice EVID C8.2 which has been installed in the low ceiling areas of the Sports theatre and TAB.
For all other areas that have very high ceilings Meyer UP1 Junior self powered surface mount loudspeakers were installed on the various columns around the venue.
A Dynacord professional power amplifier drives the ceiling speakers whilst a LA Audio 8 way Audio distribution amplifier processes the signals for the Meyer self powered speakers.
Within the main seating of the sports theatre a hearing augmentation system has been installed. The induction loop consists of a perimeter loop of flat copper tape that has been installed under the carpet of the seating area of the theatre. This loop is powered by an Ampertronic IDL500 induction loop amplifier and is driven by the audio signal from the Meyer Galileo audio processor.
The Webb Australia Group (including Project Director Ian Foy and Ken Douglas, Associate Director, who designed the project) carried out extensive renderings
These expectations were met using a combination of LED strips and LED downlights with high output warm colour CREE chips. These were all controlled by the centralized computer dimming system Webb implemented in the Casino.
The special resin bar top was backlit using LED strips as was the TV surrounds and bottle displays behind the bar.
“An opening statement by the interior designer was that all lighting was to be incandescent,” said Ian Foy. “Doing so would have blown the lumen/energy budget and presented a maintenance concern. The desired result has been achieved whilst still complying with the BCA and reducing the maintenance burden on the client.”
With AV, the original brief for the space was a “Sports Book” setup similar to the US model. This meant relocating the existing projection system from the Trophies area and re-using the old Show Theatre sound system. Once it was decided that this would be a flagship bar and venue, the AV specification was upgraded. New Panasonic 12,000 lumen HD DLP projectors were included for the main screen along with new 6,000 lumen HD DLP units for the side screens. A video over UTP system was installed to distribute video to the 47 LCD display panels throughout the venue.
The Sports Theatre has to operate as a venue whilst still being open to the main gaming floor. This presented a challenge for the sound system. A Meyer Sound system was chosen which incorporates a dual mode setup. The main speaker clusters provide coverage to the front area whilst the rear delay speakers accommodate the rear seating positions. In addition a flown end-fire array is used for the subs to control the low frequency sound. This flexible arrangement allows the space to be used as the Sports Book area in day to day operation or as a venue for special events.