Billed as the “Largest Event in Bradford County,” the 139th Troy (Pennsylvania) Fair recently opened with a new grandstand sound system provided by Gelnett & Associates of Northumberland, PA that’s headed by Community Professional R Series loudspeakers.
The new system replaces a 1970s-era paging horn system that was inadequate for modern fair events and had prompted last year’s tractor pull announcer to complain, “We’re not coming back unless you fix this!”
After interviewing several integrators, the Troy Fair board chose Gelnett & Associates to design and install the system, with company president Scott Gelnett reporting that a deciding factor for the board was an impressive on-site demo. The team implementing the new solution also included project manager Gary Young, installation foreman Keith Hummel, and DSP programmer David Shumaker.
The system incorporates two clusters comprised of four Community R.5HPT loudspeakers covering the grandstands and three R2-52 loudspeakers covering left, center and right field areas. All loudspeakers are powered by DSP-equipped Crown Audio amplifiers, with a variety of mix functions supplied by a Biamp 601 mixer.
Gelnett also specified an Audix headworn announcer microphone as well as a handheld mic for a second announcer in the press booth, with additional Audix wireless headworn and handheld wireless mics for use from the field. Music can be played via a new Tascam CD200i CD player with iPod input.
The press booth, which hangs below the grandstands roof, is difficult to access and as a result, Gelnett provided a remote volume control in a utility room below the grandstands for events with field announcements. However, Scott Gelnett says the microphones seldom need adjustment and he reports that he did “very little tweaking” on the R Series loudspeakers during system commissioning.
The fairgrounds also host local high school football games, the Endless Mountain Maple Festival, and other sporting events as well as the yearly Troy Fair. Gelnett & Associates has also updated systems serving other areas of the fairgrounds, including exhibit halls, the cattle barn areas, and a small arena.