About the Facility
Estádio Mineirão, a soccer stadium located in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, holds 58,170 fans. It was one of 12 venues that hosted games during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Soccer games will also take place there during the 2016 Summer Olympics. Estádio Mineirão opened in 1965 and had a renovation to modernize the facility completed in December 2012. It hosted six 2014 World Cup matches, and is the home stadium for the Brazilian soccer team Cruzeiro. The stadium held over 132,000 fans for a match in 1997. However, capacity has been decreased steadily due to safety reasons.
The Sound System
Johnson Controls Brazil selected Soundvision Engineering, an audio and video contract integrator in Brazil, to design and install the sound system for Estádio Mineirão. When Soundvision started the project it faced significant challenges right away. The first issue was the size and scope of the control/monitoring system. The team designed a solution consisting of 16 racks with BSS Audio BLU-800 signal processors and Crown amplifiers. The loudspeakers are fed from five technical rooms through CobraNet with D-link redundancy. The team also needed loudspeakers compliant with FIFA requirements for the World Cup that delivered well- defined coverage and high intelligibility for the massive crowds soon to ?ll the stadium. Since Belo Horizonte can see temperatures close to 100 degrees, weather-resistance was also a key factor.
Soundvision ran EASE simulations to evaluate several different loudspeaker systems during project development. After thorough testing, they selected Community R2 loudspeakers.
A configuration featuring twenty- four clusters, each with four or five R2 loudspeakers, was chosen for the project. To overcome one additional challenge, they created customized brackets to safely secure the clusters.
After completing the installation, Fernando Gargantini, Systems Manager for Soundvision, tested the system and made performance analysis measurements. The results showed that it provides exceptional coverage, SPL, and intelligibility. Two other stadiums used R SERIES loudspeakers during the World Cup in Brazil: Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo and Arena Amazonia in Manaus. Both stadiums opened in 2014, shortly before the World Cup started in June.
Arena Corinthians, which hosted the first game of World Cup 2014 between Brazil and Croatia, has 48 R2 loudspeakers. Based in Sao Paolo, Arena Corinthians has seating capacity for 46,116 fans. However, temporary seating enabled it to hold over 63,000 during the World Cup. Since the 40,549-seat Arena Amazonia is located in the Amazon rainforest, weather-resistance became even more important when selecting loudspeakers. That sound system has 64 R2 and 76 R.25 loudspeakers.
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
