Opened in 1945, Bangkok's Rajadamnern Stadium – the oldest Muay Thai stadium in Thailand – stands as one of the country’s most revered sports venues.
Known as the cradle of Muay Thai (Thai boxing) as a globally renowned professional sport, Rajadamnern is the first stadium dedicated to Muay Thai and has played a fundamental role in shaping the sport’s rules, cultures, traditions, and global reputation. The venue also stands out for its unique circular design, which guarantees an unobstructed view from every seat.
Although the historical significance of the stadium remains unchanged, the grand vision of Rajadamnern's management team was to establish the venue as a premier global destination for sports and cultural experiences. Their mission was to create something unique; the time had come to reimagine the experience at Rajadamnern – especially its AV systems – to align the venue with modern expectations.
To celebrate the stadium's 80th anniversary in 2025, the management team conceived the idea of the world's first immersive Muay Thai.
To help bring this vision to life, they hired production specialist Andrei Mazuruc from ShowOne Productions in Canada to lead the project. Rajadamnern and Mazuruc chose to work with KV2 Audio for the audio system, which was supplied and installed by KV2's distributor, Audio Gears, in Bangkok.
According to Leo Tanzil, KV2's Technical Support Director for the APAC region, the design turned out to be more challenging than he had anticipated.
Rajadamnern had a bold vision to transform the stadium and deliver a unique sports and cultural spectacle – the world's first fully immersive Muay Thai experience. On paper, the audio design seemed quite simple – we just needed to hang four speakers above the boxing ring, aimed at each of the four quadrants – but no… Andrei quickly dismissed that idea, as he did not want anything above the ring at all. Even the structure of the previous audio and lighting system had to be removed. So, we went back to the planning process, recalls Tanzil.
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In fact, the ambitious design envisioned by Rajadamnern and Mazuruc treated the dome as a giant screen, similar to a planetarium, which meant that visually nothing could obstruct the lines of sight or cast shadows on the projection; however, the audio system had to be powerful enough to provide commentary with crystal-clear clarity to every seat, in addition to delivering immersive surround sound that elevated the atmosphere and energy of the fight.
"This was a real challenge", admits Tanzil. "An audio design based on a distributed system of perimeter speakers around the dome was not going to work either, since Andrei wanted the announcer’s commentary to sound as if it were emanating directly from the ring – that is, to be accurately localized to the source – in addition to offering great immersive surround sound. And, of course, the system had to be as compact and unobtrusive as possible".
After modeling various options, it became clear that a solution based on KV2's 2.5-way full-range active EX28 speaker system would solve the problems:
The EX28 was the perfect solution. Thanks to its compact size, it can be installed in the corners of the ring without interfering with the action, while providing the power needed to cover the stadium. By combining it with surround sound speakers (also EX28) and applying the appropriate processing, we achieved the effect of the sound emanating from the ring, minimizing the venue’s reverberation, affirms Tanzil.
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A total of 24 KV2 EX28 speakers were used throughout the stadium; a pair of speakers mounted on custom poles in each corner of the ring, combined with another 16 EX28 speakers distributed around the perimeter, offer a crystal-clear and dynamic audio experience in every seat. Eight KV2 VHD 2.18J subwoofers provide high-energy low-frequency reinforcement, and the system is powered by eight KV2 VHD 3200 amplifiers that maintain sonic integrity even at high volumes.
"In surround mode, each of the perimeter EX28 speakers provides sufficiently wide coverage so that the surround sound effect can be heard by everyone in the audience, no matter where they are seated", continues Tanzil. "When combined with the distributed subwoofer arrangement, even the low and mid frequencies can be localized in surround mode; however, in stereo mode, the subwoofer setup offers uniform coverage throughout the venue".
For control and distribution, Audio Gears installed four NST Audio VMX88 processors along with two Netgear M4250 12M2XF network switches and a Drawmer DA6 distribution amplifier, ensuring flawless communication among all system components. The stadium’s existing Midas M32 Live digital console was equipped with a DN32 Dante expansion card and integrated into the new system, ensuring a smooth transition for the sound engineers already familiar with the equipment.
By December 15, 2024, the installation was completed, just in time for the grand reopening of the stadium on December 21 – a majestic event to celebrate the commencement of the venue’s 80th anniversary.
With its audio upgrade, Rajadamnern Stadium has reinforced its reputation as the ultimate destination for Muay Thai, also cementing its place on the global stage. The transformation was immediately evident, and spectators can now experience the fights with an unprecedented level of auditory immersion.
Audio Gears is proud of the results achieved with the new audio system. "Even with the crowd enthusiastically cheering in the Muay Thai dome, the clarity and cleanliness of the audio—without distortion across the entire frequency range—allowed us to easily reach the desired SPL for the show, with plenty of headroom to spare", comments Mile Sanguanpak, Technical Director of Audio Gears. "It’s incredible what we were able to achieve with so few speakers of such a compact size. The KV2 system offers a sonic experience like never before".
KV2 has opened new possibilities for Rajadamnern Stadium. We have always faced acoustic challenges in our circular dome, but with KV2 we now capture sound details that were previously imperceptible. The clarity, depth, and power of the audio have transformed the atmosphere, taking the experience to another level. Today I can confidently say that the stadium boasts one of the best sound systems in Thailand, delivering an unprecedented sports and cultural experience, confirms Mr. Sarun Ladawon, Marketing Director of Global Sport Ventures Co., Ltd.
