The athletes at Eastern Pennsylvania’s Moravian College returned to school this September to find their familiar Steel Field complex transformed via $2.6 million renovation project created a new sports facility.
The project includes an expanded and resurfaced Timothy Breidegam Track, a new playing surface on Rocco Calvo Field, renewed bleachers, a new scoreboard, and a brand new high output full-range, horn-loaded R-Series loudspeakers from Community Professional.
Pat Conneen of AVSG/HiFi House Group, audio designer and installer for the project, explains that the college had some very specific requirements for their new audio system.
“They needed a solution that could be easily configured for a wide range of activities, from football games to track meets and special ceremonies,” he says. “It also had to enable Moravian’s audio engineers to control and direct the sound to prevent it from carrying into homes in the surrounding neighborhood. And of course, it had to fit within their budget.”
Conneen recommended Community’s weather-resistant R-Series loudspeakers for their exceptional speech intelligibility and excellent sound distribution capability and pattern control.
Sound for the main bleachers is provided by a distributed system of five Community R.5HPT loudspeakers, hung across the front of the bleacher canopy and pointed toward the seating area at a 35 degree down tilt. Crown CTs Series amps power the system.
The track, field, and visitor bleachers are covered by a cluster of three Community R2-52Z loudspeakers, hung at the front center of the main grandstand canopy. Coverage is augmented by an R.5HP loudspeaker located at the west end of the grandstand, and an R2-52Z loudspeaker for the east grandstand area.
The R2 loudspeakers are powered via Ashly Audio KLR3200 amplifiers. A Symetrix 780 DSP provides audio signal routing, equalization, and limiting to all Crown and Ashly amplifiers.
Conneen reports that the new audio system has exceeded Moravian’s expectations. “The system can be specifically configured for the various activities on Rocco Calvo Field and the sound clarity is outstanding – better than we even anticipated we could achieve,” he says.