Newnan High School, located in Newnan, Georgia, recently overhauled its 4,300-seat Drake Stadium, expanding it to accommodate 6,000 fans and replacing its dated sound reinforcement system with a single Danley Sound Labs Jericho Horn JH-90, which delivers point-source, full-frequency coverage for the entire stadium.
The old system had relied on a distribution of limited fidelity horns. Their multiple sources, combined with echoes, led to serious intelligibility problem. However, because it was like the thousands of sound systems that fill high school stadiums across the nation, most Newnan fans simply shook their heads and acquiesced to garbled announcements.
With the renovation of Drake Stadium’s seating and press box, the school jumped at the chance to update the sound reinforcement system. While school officials certainly expected some improvement, they did not anticipate just how dramatic that improvement would be.
“They knew that they wanted the new sound reinforcement system located out by the scoreboard just beyond one of the end zones,” said LaDon Findley, principal and chief sound designer at Performa Technologies, the Millbrook, Alabama-based company that installed the new sound reinforcement system for Newnan HS.
“The dilemma is that when it gets that far away, there can be a serious reduction in sound pressure level as the signal moves forward in time and space. Southern A&E of Austell, Georgia designed the system to include one Danley Jericho Horn JH-90, which was expressly designed to excel in such situations. Due to some remarkable physics, the JH-90 delivers full-frequency, phase-coherent audio from a single point source with tremendous power.”
Performa Technologies worked with StressCrete to design a custom pole on which to mount the 700-plus pound JH-90 that would safely take it up and over the scoreboard. One DSLP48 processor, four Danley 6.5k amplifiers and one Danley 3.3k amplifier power the massive loudspeaker.
Because the distance between the loudspeaker and the control booth is so great, Performa Technologies put evolved and now-cost effective wireless technology to use. A Listen Technologies line-level wireless transmitter conveys signal from the control booth to the equipment rack.
“With just one Danley Jericho Horn JH-90, Newnan High School has received a tremendous upgrade in terms of coverage and intelligibility,” said Jereme Harris, operation manager at Performa Technologies and the person responsible for the installation. “To call the difference between the old system and the new system ‘night and day’ doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
