Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Danville, VA, recently chosen by Car and Driver magazine as one of the top six road courses in the U.S., has been outfitted with a new PA system by Choice AVTech utilizing a range of Harman Professsional components.
Choice AVTech, based in Atlanta, had installed a PA system at Road Atlanta, another local racetrack, and when VIR’s management team paid a visit, they realized just how outpaced their own PA had become.
“Virginia International Raceway’s system had been installed in 1999 and was pretty basic,” explains Choice AVTech president David Miller. “It certainly wasn’t enough for the kinds of spectator events VIR has been hosting more and more, and the visit to Road Atlanta convinced them it was time for an upgrade.”
The new system includes 13 JBL Professional AWC129 compact all-weather loudspeakers and 17 AWC82 all-weather loudspeakers, driven by a Crown Audio CDi 6000 and two Crown CDi4000 amplifiers. The loudspeakers are mounted with the included metal U-brackets atop 30-foot high poles that are deployed around the perimeter of the racetrack.
A dbx DriveRack 4820 loudspeaker management system provides EQ, time alignment, signal routing and other system processing and control functions. Four AKG D5 dynamic vocal microphones and two AKG K271 MKII professional studio headphones are used by the track announcers.
Miller points out the biggest challenge of any racetrack installation: “It’s incredibly noisy. The sound pressure levels from the engine noise are very, very high, and you have the crowd noise on top of that. Because of the sheer basic need to be heard over all that noise, and because they’re cheap, most racing facilities and especially NASCAR tracks have been built around old-school horn loudspeakers.”
While these devices deliver high volume and are inexpensive, Miller notes that high-quality sound is becoming essential to racing promoters because of the increase in pre-race ceremonies and the need for high-fidelity music reproduction. “Racetracks can’t get away with those old bullhorns anymore. They need sound systems that are full range and more musical, with extended bass and high-frequency response.”
“We chose these JBL AWC loudspeakers because they combine exceptional clarity for speech with extended frequency response for music, and their high power handling and sensitivity make them incredibly loud and powerful for their size,” said Miller. “The speakers are more competitively priced than other brands we considered. They look good and blend in inconspicuously into the surroundings – you can hardly notice they’re there.”
Miller went with the Crown CDi Series amplifiers because of their power and efficiency. “Right now we only require three amplifiers to power the system, which I think is a testament to their effectiveness.” Regarding the AKG D5, he finds it to be an exceptional dynamic microphone with an easy to activate on/off switch and warm, yet clear sound.
As a relatively new company (in business since 2011), he also found the support that Harman Professional provided was invaluable. “They really rolled out the red carpet for us. There are always a few different options for this type of project and the support and service they provided us really helped us make the right decision.”
“VIR is a premium venue and we challenged David and his team at Choice AVTech to upgrade our PA system so it reflects the same quality as the overall facility” states Connie Nyholm, owner & CEO of Virginia International Raceway. “When people come here, they expect the best, and that’s what we asked them to deliver. We couldn’t be happier with phase one and look forward to working with Choice AVTech and Harman on its continued development.”
