Close to the crossroads of I-80 and US-95, the Winnemucca Events Center in north-central Nevada serves car shows, wrestling matches, archery challenges, rodeos and high school graduations. Its indoor events space can accommodate up to 5,000 with the retractable bleacher in place, plus seating on the temporary floor. But until recently it had an unreliable, low-intelligibility sound reinforcement system…
‘The previous system was original to the Winnemucca indoor event space, making it close to 20 years old,’ Focus Partners Systems Consultant Joel Moak explains. ‘Several components were simply broken, and the rest were full of dirt. For most events, the operators brought in a portable sound system, but it always elicited complaints. In 2017, I met with Kim Peterson, director of the Winnemucca Convention & Visitors Authority. He didn’t want a new sound system that would be merely passable, he wanted a legacy sound system that would be the envy of every comparable facility in the state of Nevada.’
In response, A/V integration firm Focus Partners designed and installed a Danley Sound Labs system that’s capable of highly-intelligible spoken word and compelling musical reproduction.
‘I’ve done side-by-side comparisons between every possible pro-level sound reinforcement system out there, and nothing compares with the fidelity and output of Danley’s designs,’ Moak says. ‘Those qualities are especially astounding given their generally smaller footprint, which was important in this situation. I arranged a demo involving a SH96HO full-range, high-output loudspeaker and two TH118 subwoofers, and Kim was appropriately thrilled with their clarity and impact.’
To finalise the design, Moak turned to Danley’s Doug Jones-designed acoustics modelling software, Danley Direct. He concluded that a centre cluster would provide the best coverage and flexibility to accommodate the centre’s myriad event types.
Four Danley SH96 full-range loudspeakers cover each cardinal direction from the centre of the arena. A pair of TH118 subwoofers round out the low end for a complete, hi-fi sound, and a single OS80 loudspeakers fires straight down from the centre to cover the floor. Where support beams create shadows from the main cluster and for two upper balcony sections at the ends of the arena, Moak deployed additional OS80s with appropriate delays to match the arrival time from the main cluster. In addition, four delayed, down-firing OS12CX loudspeakers cover the lobby, and two pairs of two OS80s each cover the outside of the building. Finally, an outdoor staging area, most commonly used by cowboys preparing for rodeo events, is covered by an OS12CX.
Two Danley DNA 20k4 Pro amplifiers deliver 5kW each to eight channels, and two DNA 5k4c amplifiers deliver 1.25kW each to eight channels. ‘In addition to providing abundant, clean power, plenty of loudspeaker and circuitry protection, and custom DSP presets for every Danley model, the DNA amplifiers give us the ability to log into the rack computer,’ Moak says. ‘We use Danley System Engineer to check the status of each amp.’
Focus Partners gave the Winnemucca Indoor Events Center complete, yet intuitive control of the system with a Q-Sys Core 110f. ‘A non-skilled operator can simply select the event type and coverage needs, and the system takes care of itself,’ Moak says. ‘They can control which speakers are on or off to deliver coverage where it is needed and to avoid energising areas where it isn’t needed.’ An Allen & Heath QU16 digital console serves as the main interface for more skilled operators during more complex events.
‘Kim and everyone else on the team is thrilled with the sound quality,’ Moak reports. ‘The technical director of the area high school sports network told me that he regularly works every facility in the county, and Winnemucca’s system is by far and away the best he has ever heard.’
More: www.danleysoundlabs.com
