When North Carolina State University’s athletic administration decided to build the Dail Outdoor Tennis Stadium and renovate its Paul Derr Track and Soccer Field; they needed to install new sound systems as well. For their new facilities, they chose speakers from One Systems, a leading manufacturer of high-intelligibility, high-output, direct weather loudspeakers.
Davidson Audio Visual, Inc. of Winston-Salem, NC designed and installed the new audio systems. The installations include a number of One Systems’ CrossField Array (CFA) speakers, a high output vertical array system, and 212IM’s, a double 12-inch two-way system. One Systems’ patented Equivalent Throat horn/driver technology, its high-output Inside/Only woofers, beautifully-detailed sound and its proven weatherproofing made the choice easy for Davidson AV President, Joe Davidson.
The newly constructed Dail Outdoor Tennis Stadium holds approximately 1,000 fans and each of them enjoys chairback seating overlooking six lighted tennis courts, a new electronic scoreboard and modern restroom facilities. This beautiful stadium is a modern outdoor sports facility requiring exceptional sounding, highly intelligible sound that is a perfect match for One Systems speakers.
Due to the height of the risers in the tennis stadium, Davidson AV needed loudspeakers with a narrow vertical coverage angle and well-controlled dispersion, which the Cross FIeld Array systems accommodated perfectly. Three (3) CFA speakers were installed on the columns of the new scoreboard for the courts, providing optimal coverage for both fans and players. Each speaker is suspended using One Systems Pole Mount System EX-2s with Band-It stainless steel strapping.
The Paul Derr Track and Soccer Field’s completed enhancements include new seats, a new press box, enhanced concourses, a state-of-the-art rubberized running surface, and a new brick façade. Two 212IM speakers and four (4) CFA speakers were installed on existing light poles on the grandstand of the facility, using One Systems Pole Mount System EX-2s, again secured with Bandit stainless steel banding.
Overall, the installation went smoothly, but there were some challenges that Davidson had to overcome during the design of the track and soccer field’s system.
“The challenge with the Paul Derr Track and Soccer Field installation was being able to have good speech intelligibility and musical clarity without noise spilling over into nearby campus buildings, including two theatre spaces,” explains Davidson. “The use of the One Systems Cross Field Arrays allowed us to keep all the loudspeakers on the grandstand side of the field and to direct the audio away from the theatres.”
“We are extremely happy with the result and sound quality of the speakers within each facility, as is the client,” consludes Davidson.
Doug MacCallum, One Systems President states, “We are very proud to be a part of North Carolina State’s rich athletic tradition. Its new track, soccer and new tennis courts are great examples of premium outdoor athletic facilities with acoustical challenges where One Systems speakers work especially well”.
