Swiss Trouser Wrestling Championship Gets P.A. Upgrade

Lausen, Switzerland (July 30, 2024)—Many Swiss traditions have been exported around the globe with great success; people everywhere revere the country’s cheese, chocolates and watches—but there’s another Swiss institution that hasn’t quite made the leap to the world stage yet: Schwingen, known colloquially as “Trouser Wrestling.”

A martial art practiced almost exclusively in Switzerland, Schwingen has its own annual highpoint of the year—the NWS Championship, hosted in an open-air venue designed to accommodate thousands. Ensuring everyone could hear every grunt, grapple and referee call at this year’s edition, technical event specialists Powerlight and Pixava fielded a Wharfedale Pro P.A. for the day.

The venue, featuring four grandstands, can host up to 4,500 visitors with two grandstands seating approximately 1,050 visitors each, and the other two accommodating around 700 visitors each, with additional space for 1,000 people standing. The installation comprised a total of 16 Wharfedale Pro WLA-112 line array loudspeakers, powered by two DP-4100N power amplifiers, connected over a Dante network. A pair of WLA-112s per grandstand were also powered by DP-4100N amplifiers.

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“The loudspeakers were strategically placed with two WLA-112s on pole stands at around 1.8m high in each corner between the grandstands,” said Wharfedale Pro’s own Application and Solution Manager, Alex Lane. “An additional two WLA-112s were ground stacked on specially made wooden stands in front of each grandstand. This set-up helped ensure optimal sound coverage, eliminating the need for delay lines for the upper seats of the grandstands.”

The system easily covered the masses in attendance; the event was also broadcast in full by SF DRS, the Swiss national TV station.