Paul Giel Field is a multi-purpose athletic field at Winona Senior High School in Winona, Minnesota featureing a football field, a running track and a soccer field and is used by Winona High School as well as nearby Winona State University and Cotter High School.
Recently the school built a new press box above the bleachers and decided to upgrade sound reinforcement for the field at the same time. Sim Sound & Video, also located in Winona, designed and installed the new system featuring three One Systems Cross Field Array-2 (CFA-2) loudspeakers.
“Even though the home and visitors seating is on the same side of the field, the system still needed to blanket the entire field – and even a bit beyond – to cover track and field events,” explains Dean Sim, CEO and system designer.
“They wanted a full range system that would provide vocal intelligibility and exceptional musicality for the dance line performances. The Cross Field Array was perfect for this application.”
The Cross Field Array-2 is a nominal 55 (h) x 30 (v) degree array that features a fully rotatable high frequency horn/waveguide. The high frequency configuration consists of two large format close-spaced compression drivers coupled to a 2-inch constant directivity horn. The low frequency configuration consists of four bandwidth optimized 10-inch woofers in a 2 x 2 array. The CFA-2 is ideally suited for long throw applications like Paul Giel Field. The CFA-2 is also a direct weather design that features three layers of stainless steel grill assembly with an enclosure made of laminated fiberglass – ideal for outdoor applications in Minnesota.
“We were involved while they were constructing the press box and had the contractors weld mounting points to the roof to simplify installation,” adds Sim. “Once the press box was done, the construction crane onsite helped place the loudspeakers on the roof of the press box. I’ll admit, it made it a pretty quick installation.”
Two CFA-2 loudspeakers were mounted on each end of the press box with the third placed in the middle to ensure the seats plus the field and track were blanketed in sound. The Sim Sound & Video team also provided a Symetrix DSP to allow easy access to the system for practices as well as events. The press booth is home to a flight case equipped with a small mixer and wireless microphones for announcement purposes.
“The school was very pleased with the end result,” Sim concludes. “The intelligibility is great, music sounds terrific and the direct weather design means we don’t have to worry about them surviving Minnesota’s weather – you can’t ask for more than that.”