A full competition size athletics stadium with indoor and outdoor running track and sports complex. The outdoor track is our focus. This is a 10 lane track which is home to many athletic clubs.
The Installation Brief
The current public address system is old, unreliable and announcements are often missed, due to the poor intelligibility of the system. Also, often the announcer wouldn’t always be able to see what was happening due to being in a cabin close by the track. The whole public address system required more flexibility for the various users
The Solution
First of all, we set out to establish the best way to get 12 horn tannoy type public address speakers to the most suitable positions to achieve the best coverage all around the track. There were currently 12 floodlighting posts, all of which already had ample multi core armoured cable running to them. We figured that not all cores were being used and thankfully for us, they ran back fairly close to the main reception complex where our amplifier control was to be installed. In collaboration with the electrician on site, we were able to acquire the cores that we needed to feed these to our control amplification, and at the lighting end used these cores to create a junction box, reducing the cable core to be able to connect to the speakers. Because we were doing this via high impedance (100 volt line), all 12 cable runs were able to be linked at the amplifier via a junction box, enabling continuity at each floodlight point. We chose the Audac Audio CHS660 long throw horn speakers for their efficiency and reliability, withstanding all weathers being IP66 rated
The microphones solution was easily rectified by having a CLOUD paging type fixed microphone for desk based announcements but also a wireless radio microphone to enable announcements from the running track, which in turn, gave the commentator much more flexibility to be able to roam to various parts of the ground. For this we opted for the Shure SLXD range for their robust build quality, also installing the PA805 external dual antennae system to make sure there was no audio drop out during announcements, particularly as often the announcements took place from the far side of the track
”I knew of the guys from Music Gear from my musician contacts in Mansfield. I knew they had a store selling all sorts of lighting and PA equipment, but was also informed that a large part of their business now was installations. I realised that this job was a little different from the norm, however they made 2 site visits to assess the site and came up with a great solution. Equally important was that in came in on time and well within budget, so a win-win! I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again as and when we need to carry out any audio work on site
Jim PlumbElectrical contractor