What I love most about my work is the variety of projects I get to tackle—each bringing its own unique challenges and opportunities. No two are alike, so there’s never a “one size fits all” approach. Every project pushes me to think outside the box and adapt to new situations.
A great example is a recent high school stadium audio upgrade. A customer wanted to refresh the sound system at their football stadium. The existing setup, while still functional, was outdated and needed improvement. It included several Community outdoor loudspeakers mounted above the home-side press box:
Although the speakers remained functional, numerous attendees noted that announcements and music were often overpowered by the noise of the crowd, particularly during heavily attended events. The problem was most pronounced on the visitors' side of the stadium, situated over 400 feet from the press box.
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Initially, I proposed installing additional speakers on the visitors' side light poles to enhance audio coverage and clarity. However, the customer informed me that the school was unwilling to trench across the field for this project, and there were no existing pathways connecting both sides of the stadium.
Confronted with this obstacle, I decided to seek a second opinion. I reached out to Dave Tewksbury from Harman, one of the most knowledgeable and resourceful professionals in the industry. With his extensive expertise in JBL speakers and BSS audio solutions, I was confident Dave could help devise an innovative and effective workaround.
After discussing the project’s audio limitations with Dave, he came up with a clever solution: using JBL’s AW Series speakers, specifically the AW566, which can project sound over the required distance when paired with sufficient amplification.
This led to the next challenge—determining the right amount of amplification. To figure it out, we first needed to set a target sound pressure level at the farthest point. While exceeding 90 dB SPL could cut through crowd noise, achieving that from 430 feet away seemed impractical and risked pushing the speaker beyond its limits.
Instead, we settled on a more feasible target of 85 dB SPL. According to Crown’s amplifier power tool and guidance from JBL engineers, the AW566 would require approximately 1,083 watts of power to achieve this.
At last, we had an audio solution ready to implement. We chose the Crown DCi 2×2400 amplifier to power two JBL AW566 loudspeakers, mounted above the press box to cover the visitors’ side. Tackling the home side was simpler—it just required selecting speakers with the appropriate coverage patterns. For this, we opted for three JBL AWC82 speakers powered by a Crown DCi 4×600 amplifier. Additionally, we suggested relocating the home-side speakers to eliminate the acoustic shadow caused by the press box roof, which had been a significant drawback of the previous Community setup.
Through careful planning and problem-solving, we delivered a cost-effective solution that greatly enhanced the stadium’s acoustics and speech clarity. While the “ideal” design wasn’t feasible, we overcame the project’s challenges and provided the school with a simple yet impactful upgrade to their existing system.
A heartfelt thanks to the dependable Dave Tewksbury and the entire Harman team for their expertise, guidance, and unwavering support.
For those interested in learning more about amplifier power and speaker ratings, Crown offers an excellent resource on their website. And if you’re tackling a complex or challenging audio project of your own, reach out to us at sales@creationnetworks.net—our team of experts is ready to help.
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