The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) is part of the state’s 17-school university system and currently enrolls over 14,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. Basketball is big in the Tar Heel state, and UNCW’s Seahawks basketball team draws crowds composed of students and locals to the 6,100-seat Trask Coliseum.
Constructed in 1977, Trask recently benefitted from a $2 million makeover that included a new high-intelligibility sound reinforcement system featuring Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers. South Dakota-based Daktronics designed and installed the multi-purpose arena’s new A/V system based upon Danley SH-100B and SH-100 boxes with exceptional intelligibility, pattern control, and value.
“We were on a very tight budget,” explained Mike Maloney, regional audio sales associate with Daktronics. “We always strive for high-efficiency systems, but at UNCW, it was paramount.”
The arena’s old sound system was a center cluster that was abundantly loud but of remarkably low intelligibility. Apart from using the Danley boxes, which deliver greater intelligibility via their ingenious engineering, Daktronics vastly improved on the old system by including a delay ring that would keep the sound source proximate to the fans.
Six Danley SH-100B full-range loudspeakers with integrated subwoofer support comprise the new center cluster. Sixteen Danley SH-100 full-range loudspeakers augment them in the new delay ring.
Eight Crown CDi 2000 and CDi 4000 amplifiers provide power to the system, with system conditioning and routing logic provided by a BSS Soundweb London Blu-100.
A Blu-8 wall controller allows the facility’s staff to control various routing, input, and volume controls, including preset selection for graduation ceremonies that effectively shut off one end of the arena.
Inputs include a Denon DN620 balanced output CD player, a Beyer DT287 headset with a Daktronics custom mic switch interface, and an ElectroVoice Rev-D wireless microphone system.
“After suffering with a low-intelligibility system for so long, the school was eager to get a new high-intelligibility system in place,” said Maloney. “The Danley SH-100’s possess a 100 by 100 degree beam width that gave us excellent coverage of all the seats. We used customized mounts designed by the Daktronics mechanical engineers to ensure that each loudspeaker’s throw is precisely placed. All of the correct angles specified by the model are hit. When we considered the Danley boxes’ inherent fidelity, together with the savings their efficiency generates in terms of amplifiers and processing, Danley represented a high-performance, yet affordable solution.”
Trask Coliseum also benefitted from Daktronics’ new scoreboards and video displays. Each end zone now possesses a bright scoreboard. A massive 21- by 15-foot video board hangs in center-court and sports a brilliant 17- by 10-foot LED screen that the school will use for advertising, replays, and other creative content. Together with new floors and new seats, Trask is in excellent shape to usher in a new era in Seahawk basketball.
