A new athletic stadium at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park, New York has been outfitted with a sound reinforcement system incorporating an Ashly Audio nXp3.04 high-output power amplifier with onboard Protea digital processing.
Dominick Campana, owner at Pro Sound Associates (Guilderland, New York), led the system design and installation while Live Sound, Inc. (Troy, New York) served as the sound system vendor.
“There were several challenges associated with FDR’s new athletic stadium,” explains Campana. “First, we had to provide ample power to four zones over 300-feet of speaker wire – from the head end to the scoreboard.
“Second, we had to provide flexible and accurate DSP for fine-tuning, system protection, and multiple I/O routing. Third, we only had a short window between system installation and the first football game when we could commission the system.
“Finally – and this made all the other challenges that much harder – we only had a limited rack space beneath a stairway in the press box and single 20-amp circuit for the entire system. Based on my positive experience with Ashly amplifiers and processors, I suspected that their new nXp3.04 four-channel 3000-watt amplifier with internal DSP would help us overcome all of those challenges.”
Inputs to the system include four Shure ULX Series wireless microphones, three hardwired microphone jacks, and a Tascam CD-200i combination, aux in, iPod, and CD player. They feed a Shure SCM810 9×1 automixer, which in turn feeds the Ashly nXp3.04.
The nXp3.04 is a lightweight, energy-efficient Class D switching amplifier with four 3000-watt channels and an integrated 4×4 Protea DSP. Three of its amplifier channels power three Community R2 loudspeakers at the scoreboard. The final amplifier channel powers a pair of Community DS5 surface-mount loudspeakers in the press box. Additional aux outputs from the nXp3.04’s DSP section feed a Listen Technologies assistive listening system.
“As with all Ashly networkable devices, connecting to and accessing the nXp3.04’s DSP was instantaneous,” notes Campana. “Because I have considerable experience with the Ashly ne-Series of DSPs, the layout and workflow of the nXp DSP was pleasingly familiar. The Community R2s like to see a lot of power, and I knew the nXp3.04 would be able to deliver with a maximum output of 3,000 watts at 2 ohms per channel.
“Not only was there power to spare, 2000 watts per channel at 4 ohms, but the nXp3.04 performed at full throttle with only a minimal amperage draw. With all of its brains and brawn, I’ll definitely utilize the Ashly nXp-Series for future jobs – especially at its more-than-fair price point.”