ALL PRO SOUND SYSTEM FOR TROY UNIVERSITYS FOOTBALL AND BASEBALL STADIUMS
TROY, ALABAMA - AUGUST 2008: The 50,000-seat Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium at Troy University hosts the southeastern Alabama school's Trojan football team.
Until recently, the crowds of screaming fans who showed up every Saturday threatened to drown out what was a weak, but otherwise respectable
sound system. In a stroke of good fortune, the school hired Chad Edwardson of Florida's All Pro Sound to design and install a new sound system for the new baseball stadium. Edwardson soon recognized that the existing sound
system in the football stadium would serve wonderfully in the baseball
field, and that he could upgrade the football stadium's output by 6dB by
installing a five-over-five array of Danley SH-25 full-range loudspeakers
along with some minimal processing and few new amplifiers.
"It was a natural. The baseball stadium had a maximum throw of roughly 350
feet as compared to the football stadium's 650 feet," Edwardson explained."The old system in the football stadium wasn't really bad. In fact, it
sounded great right up to game time. But when the fans filled the stadium,
the ambient noise level grew to 90 or 95dB, which was all that the existing
system could manage. Since the throw was so much shorter in the baseball
stadium, I knew it would fare well in its new home."
The SH-25 is Danley's latest addition to its patented Synergy Horn line of
full-range loudspeakers, and is the world's first high-output loudspeaker
that is seamlessly arrayable both horizontally and vertically. Edwardson
took advantage of that capability with a five-over-five array that, in his
words, "effectively acted like one powerful point source." The SH-25
delivers 10dB more output than its sibling SH-50 with a perfect, 25-deg x
25-deg beamwidth. All Pro Sound built a custom frame to house and mount the
speakers on the Trojan's scoreboard, located behind the end-zone opposite a
U-shaped fan of seats that wrap around the field. Danley speakers are
manufactured with a weather-resistant coating so that the SH-25s could
endure southern Alabama's summer thunderstorms.
"Given its long horn, the SH-25 has a tight pattern control at even lower
frequencies than the SH-50, and the SH-50 is already impressive," said
Edwardson, who has specified the SH-50 in numerous indoor installations."The long throw and the 25-degree beamwidth are a perfect match, allowing me
to focus energy on the seats. Very little energy is wasted sending sound to
places where it isn't needed."
The existing processing and amps moved with the existing speakers to the new
baseball stadium. To complete the football stadium upgrade, Edwardson
selected an Ashley 24.24M DSP and a modest rack of QSC's PLX-series amps."We had previously been doing two-way, three-way, and even four-way
amplification," Edwardson explained. "The Danley SH-25 is a passive box and
does all of its crossovers internally. It's quite flat right out of the box.
We were able to use fewer amps and a smaller DSP than we had with the old
system. Despite that, the Danley loudspeaker system is up 6dB over the old
system!"
Troy University's new system gets up over 100dB - enough to top the
respectable lung power of the Trojan fans. It's an obvious improvement, and
although the football season has yet to begin, the school has put the
Danleys through their paces for pre-season camps, a Special Olympics meet,
and a handful of other events. Indeed, the change has inspired unsolicited
praise from fans! In the first game of the 2008 season, the Trojans will
take on the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders on August 28th.
Tom Danley is one of the most innovative loudspeaker designers in the
industry today and is recognized worldwide as a pioneer for "outside the
box" thinking in professional audio technology. His legendary designs have
been utilized in projects ranging from ground zero bombing simulation, jet
engine active noise cancellation, and sonic boom generators to critical
listening mastering studios, high-end home theatre, and houses of worship
around the world.
Danley Sound Labs
danley sound labs
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