NC State Athletics recently completed improvements to the Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina, including the installation one of the largest Danley Sound Labs’ audio systems distributed in a stadium to date.

‘In this particular stadium, it’s a big, loud, and rowdy environment,’ says Precision Audio owner, Scott Carneval. ‘At Carter-Finley, we looked specifically at what was installed prior and worked to ensure that every product selected improved the experience at every position.’

The new system includes a variety of Danley loudspeakers and subwoofers, including four J8-94 loudspeakers that cover the majority of the stadium, three SH46 loudspeakers as down fill, a single J6-42 for coverage on the field, and eight BC415 subwoofers to provide low frequencies throughout the stadium. Around the remainder of the stadium are 16 Danley OS12CX loudspeakers for coverage on the concourse as well as 32 Go2-8CX loudspeakers for under-balcony fill and 11 OS80 loudspeakers at the entrance gates.

At the heart of the system is an Allen & Heath AHM-64 audio matrix processor fitted with a Dante card. Four A&H DT168 Dante expanders are used in the control room, the players’ entrance tunnel, the club level of the stadium, and for portable use throughout the venue. Two DT164w Dante interfaces are used for remaining inputs on the field and on the concourse.

Allen & Heath DX012 96kHz expanders are used in the amplifier racks in the facility. All audio in the stadium is mixed using an Allen & Heath DM0 dLive MixRack also fitted with a Dante card and controlled by a dLive C3500 Control Surface. An Allen & Heath CC-10 touchpanel is also used for audio control in each region of the stadium and CC-10 touchpanels are also installed in the Stadium’s suites for custom control within each suite.

‘Having AHM partner up with Danley has been one of the most fun relationships to develop,’ says A&H Installation & Commercial Audio Manager, Samantha Potter. ‘Getting to step into the stadium and knowing our technologies are working together to create such an experience is very exciting.’

‘Allen & Heath has the same mindset that Danley does,’ adds Danley Sound Labs Territory Sales Manager, Scott Howard. ‘They like to provide high-quality audio products to do the job and meet the customer’s need.’

‘We want to create the best fan experience that we can. We have to make sure we have the right thing for us at NC State,’ says Athletic Director, Boo Corrigan. ‘Doing our research and understanding what’s the right thing for us to maximise our fan experience has been our focus.’

Coaches, players, and fans all agree that the new sound system has created this elevated experience. ‘What we had in the past was old and not as loud,’ says Brock McKirgan, Director of Football Operations at NC State University. ‘The fans feel it. With this, the fans really feed off the energy and the bass from the sound system.’

‘It’s changed the game in a lot of ways for the fans and for the players,’ says NC State Head Coach, Dave Doernen. ‘For us, it’s the twelfth man. When the crowd’s engaged, that’s hard on the other team.’