While fans enjoyed the successes of their Spartans, there was a consistent loser at the University of Tampa’s Bob Martinez Athletics Center – its sound system. Recent renovations at the 36-year-old, 3,400-seat arena that the Spartans’ men’s and women’s basketball teams call home, has seen a complete overhaul of its audio capabilities.

When regional A/V integrator AvTek introduced Spartans athletic department members to Danley Sound Labs components, it was quickly obvious that the university had finally found a sound to match the quality of what was happening on the court. ‘Over the years, we’ve had a few sound systems in the Martinez Gym, and they’ve all been terrible,’ says Scott Gossen, Senior Project Manager at the University of Tampa. ‘Announcements were boomy and indecipherable. You couldn’t understand anything that was being said – not the players’ names, not the details of a foul, or even that the ref was announcing a foul.

‘Honestly, there was almost no point in even making the announcements – which was a shame since we typically have a whole production crew to broadcast the games. At 30ft, the ceiling is relatively low, and you can tell that someone put acoustic panels in ages ago to try to deal with the echo. If it was helping, it wasn’t helping enough.’

This was until the combination of Danley Sound Labs and AvTek entered the equation. Looking for something to crown the renovation, which featured new bleachers, new floor, new exterior entrances, and new lighting, AvTek designed and installed a high-impact, high-intelligibility sound reinforcement system that included Danley SH69 loudspeakers, a BC412 subwoofer, and DNA-series amplifiers.

‘The Martinez Center’s old system was a poor design for the space,’ says AvTek Engineer, Geoff Alvarez, who had attempted to fix the university’s prior problems within the constraints of its old sound system. ‘It had outdoor speakers, not enough processing, and not enough amplifier channels. I couldn’t improve an aspect in one zone without ruining some other aspect in another zone. Shortly after that experience, I heard Danley loudspeaker technology at InfoComm in Orlando. The phase and frequency response was incredible – I could clearly hear every note in the spectrum.’

So, when Alvarez got the chance to completely rebuild the system, he accepted the challenge with relish. He chose 12 SH69 full-range loudspeakers to cover both sides of the court with three clusters of two speakers per side. He also installed three SH69s that fire straight down from north, centre and south positions above the court. Two 10kW, eight-channel DNA 10k8 Pro amplifiers power the SH69s, and for inspiring low end from a position above centre court, there is a bridged 20kW, four-channel DNA 20k4 Pro amplifier driving a BC412 subwoofer.

‘From an install standpoint, the boxes were passive, relatively compact for their output, and required only one amp channel per box,’ Alvarez says.

He used the onboard DSP and model-specific presets pre-loaded in the DNA amplifiers as starting points when he tuned the system, and Smaart sound analysis software to time align everything. The result is a sound experience that inspires the efforts of Spartans in practice and games in the facility.

‘A lot of our athletes pour a ton of time into their craft outside of formal games and practices,’ Gossen says. ‘AvTek installed a tie-in for the students so they can play music through the system from their phones. It’s super flexible and makes practicing and hanging out with teammates an even more enjoyable experience.’

For Alvarez, it was the culmination of knowledge, products, and opportunity – one of which he is proud to be part of.

‘This installation was the easiest that I’ve ever experienced,’ he reports. ‘One amp channel per box; one cable per box; and custom rigging from Polar Focus. Danley built custom yokes that bolt each cluster of two together in a u-bracket that bolts to the steel on the gym ceiling. We were also blown away that we had to remove a dozen amplifiers (that weren’t even enough) and replaced them with just three amplifiers that are delivering more than enough power to keep the system well below the point at which it would start to sweat.’

Judging by the reaction of the Spartans’ athletic department, AvTek and Danley have made some new believers. ‘Overall, the system sounds amazing. The intelligibility is everything we had hoped for, and our athletes can hear and understand exactly what is being said from on the court. And the musical impact throughout is huge,’ Gossen says. ‘Frankly, I feel like AvTek and Danley turned our gym into a nightclub.’

More: www.danleysoundlabs.com