Aldine Independent School District serves some 13,000 high school students in portions of Houston, as well as in neighboring unincorporated areas.
Even the youngest of its high schools recently pushed past the thirty-year-old mark, and in order to maintain its facilities, the school board has been regularly renovating its aging infrastructure.
Because they are heavily used by the choir, drama, and band departments, each school’s auditorium recently benefitted from a complete overhaul of its sound reinforcement system.
PGF Integrations, of nearby Rosenberg, Texas, designed and installed an elegant and effective system for each auditorium that relies on a single Danley Sound Labs SH-69 to deliver full frequency content from the first row to the back of the house.
“The sound systems that were in place, if they can be called that, consisted of little more than a few loudspeakers slapped up on a wall without any conscious regard to coverage,” said Bryan Bazemore, president of PGF Integrations.
“Moreover, those loudspeakers and amps were over twenty-five years old and showing their age.” Practically-speaking, the frequency response lacked any representation at either end of the spectrum, stealing dramatic performances of their punch and robbing musical performances of their vivacity.”
“Moreover, intelligibility, which was sketchy throughout the seating area, was completely lacking at the back of the house.
Bazemore had specified Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers in a number of church installations where intelligibility was paramount and where the throw was long.
“Danley SH-series boxes do a superb job of providing full-frequency coverage, even at long distances where other loudspeakers emphasize high-frequency content,” said Bazemore.
“Nevertheless, the SH-69 is more expensive than any other loudspeaker the school had ever purchased. From previous experience, I knew that a single SH-69 would outperform a phalanx of less expensive boxes, even if those less expensive boxes would, in aggregate, cost more.”
“So the question really came down to whether they were willing to commit to a fully functioning system. If they were, then a single Danley SH-69 was actually the most affordable option.” Bazemore made a compelling case, and the school board approved his plans.
In each auditorium, Bazemore covered almost all of the seating area with a single Danley SH-69, which delivers a remarkably consistent 90- by 60-degree beam width.
On either side, he installed a Yamaha twelve-inch two-way loudspeaker to fill the corners of the room and provide some stereo excitement. Specifically, he delivered the left channel output to the SH-69 and the right channel output to each of the Yamaha boxes, effectively creating two mirror-image stereo fields on either side of the room’s midline.
“As long as they don’t hard-pan, everyone gets a nice stereo effect,” he said. On the front-end, Bazemore installed an Allen & Heath Mix Wizard console, a Peavey 8×8 DSP, and a Yamaha stereo power amp.
“All of the schools are very pleased with the upgrade,” said Bazemore. “In a few of the schools, the drama department had been rehearsing with a temporary ‘speakers on a stick’ solution. The contrast between that and the newly installed permanent solution was obvious to everyone.”
“They’re really excited to show off the new sound to the parents. And now even the row of habitual late-comers standing against the back wall will be able to hear everything with perfect clarity!”