University Of Minnesota Golden Gophers Enjoy New Locker Room Sound With Symetrix

Four years ago, the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers men’s football team moved into the TCF Bank Stadium, a brand new, on-campus football stadium that seats 51,000.

Around the same time, the completion of a new athletic facility, the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex, provided a new home for the team, its coaches, and its support staff.

After a few years settling in, the team requested improvements to the audio playback system in the complex’ locker room, where the players often hang out between classes and practices.

Alpha Video & Audio of nearby Edina, Minnesota designed and installed a cost-effective, new system centered on the powerful, but easy to use, Symetrix Jupiter 4 app based turn-key DSP.

“The school was revamping the locker room and wanted the improvements completed in time for recruiting season,” said Darren Whitten, account representative for Alpha Video Sports and Entertainment. “The existing flat panels and the sound system were underperforming, in part because the system had no subwoofers and in part because the players had blown some of the components by driving it too hard.

“Also, the system regularly disturbed the coaches and other personnel in the adjoining offices. So they wanted a system that sounded better but that was also limited so that no one nearby would be disturbed.”

The new audio system starts with two iPod docks, a DirecTV input, and a cable input. Those feed the four inputs on the Symetrix Jupiter 4 DSP, which uses the freely-downloaded “Sound Reinforcement 5” app to provide modest input conditioning, hard limiting to keep the volume in check, and user control.

Three Lab.gruppen E4:2 amplifiers and three Lab.gruppen E12:2 amplifiers power a distributed array of Tannoy Di8 DC full-range loudspeakers and Tannoy VS10 BP subwoofers. Flat screen TVs deliver clear visual content throughout the locker room.

A Symetrix ARC-2e wall panel remote located in the locker room gives the players intuitive control of the input source and volume. A second ARC-2e located in the coach’s office gives him override control of the system.

When they installed the system, Alpha Video & Audio tested various volume selections and dialed in the limiting so that no one would be disturbed by the players’ music. However, the university’s A/V staff expressed interest in being able to make adjustments on their own.

“The Symetrix Jupiter 4 DSP is very easy to set up and very easy to adjust,” said Brad Horbal of Bormann Marketing, Inc., the local Symetrix rep. “I knew the school A/V staff would be able to get into the program and make adjustments without a problem.”

Now that the men’s football team has a clean, updated sound system for its locker room, other University of Minnesota teams, including volleyball, gymnastics, and hockey, are contacting Alpha Video & Audio to get updated systems of their own!

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