Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pennsylvania, recently upgraded its sound reinforcement quality by adding Community Professional loudspeakers to the distributed sound system serving the track’s growing crowds, in a project by systems company Moyer Electronics located in nearby Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
As with most raceways, the challenge of getting announcements across over the roar of dozens of unmuffled engines was an ever-present concern.
“Dirt track racing is actually a fair bit louder than NASCAR, with the track noise averaging around 96 dB to 98 dB,” explains Paul Moyer of Moyer Electronics. “The raceway’s old system was a bit under-powered, to put it kindly, and after two seasons of trying to make it work, they called on us to find a solution.”
The solution involved a series of 20 Community PC294 mid/high frequency horns covering the grandstand and pit areas, with Community VERIS 6 loudspeakers covering indoor areas.
“There’s really no other loudspeaker that can match Community for sheer power and intelligibility,” says Moyer. “One of the biggest complaints was that, when it’s really humid – which it is quite often – their old system just wouldn’t cut it. The Community horns sound phenomenal, no matter what the weather.”
Moyer says the system performs well over a wide range of program material. “People don’t just come to watch the race anymore. Nowadays they want entertainment. They play music, they’ve got a guy roving through the audience with a wireless mic, they’ve got games.
“They’ve been enormously successful in creating an atmosphere that draws people in. In fact, they’ve gone from a few hundred to an average attendance of around 1,500-2,000, and even more for big events. Needless to say, getting the message out to the whole park is a big part of that success.”
