Settling into its new ground, Florida Atlantic University’s Owls football team is aiming to build on their recent promotion. Part of that optimism is reflected in the provision to extend the 30,000-seat stadium to accommodate 65,000 additional seats and a roof, if needed.
Given the limit budget, initial plans called for a basic sound system, but system consultant Anthony James Partners alerted the school to the Danley Sound Labs Jericho Horn JH-90 – two Jericho Horn JH-90s could be used to cover the entire stadium from the scoreboard.
‘The budget was a real challenge,’ confirms Anthony James Partners Director of Audio Engineering, Larry Lucas. ‘They were set to compromise on the audio system, but we suggested they listen to a Jericho Horn JH-90. After our demo, they realised that for only a little more money, they could get a high-fidelity, high-volume sound system capable of supporting concerts and functions, in addition to great-sounding game day content.
‘Where other manufacturers use a conventional design – which has a host of inherent acoustical limitations – and then add costly and imperfect “fixes” to deal with those limitations, Danley starts with an unconventional design with solid acoustical performance,’ he continues. ‘By combining 15 drivers into a single point-source enclosure, the Jericho JH-90 is powerful but acoustically clean and simple. As a result, I don’t have to fight with phasing and timing issues in the design. I’m not fighting physics.’
Daktronics installed the audio system alongside a Daktronics scoreboard. ‘Working to accurately integrate sound systems into video board structures is a critical engineering objective,’ says Mike Maloney, Regional Audio Sales Associate at Daktronics. ‘Normally Daktronics supplies a cabinet with a speaker-covering mesh for a university, but the JH-90s at FAU needed to attach directly to the top of the video board. To satisfy the mounting requirements, our mechanical engineers designed custom mounts to hold the JH-90s safely atop the new video board. The mounts meet strict safety standards while providing tilting capabilities so as to optimise coverage at the opposite end zone.’
The coverage patterns of the two Jericho Horn JH-90s address the entire bowl of the new stadium, apart from a few seats directly below the scoreboard. Daktronics installed two Danley SH-50 full-range loudspeakers to provide the fill.
Ten Crown I-Tech 5000 HD amplifiers provide power to the system, with processing handled by BSS London. ‘The Jericho JH-90s required only some modest equalisation to be dialed in completely,’ Maloney says. ‘At the base of the system, a Yamaha 01V 96 VCM digital mixer gives the FAU audio techs control over inputs and volume. HiQnet System Architect software gives us real-time information regarding the amplifier and speaker performances.
‘The completed system provided us a very satisfied client. The vocal presentation has nice clarity, the music reproduction shows little compression of the dynamic range, and the low-frequency energy is ample.’
More: www.danleysoundlabs.com
