BOZEMAN, MT – Montana State University's Bobcats football team is playing in a renovated stadium this year. Some 5,200 additional fans can see each game – a total capacity to 17,200. Steven Shewlakow, lead designer at Michael Garrison Associates (MGA), opted for a single Danley Sound Labs Jericho Horn JH-90, which throws audio some 400 feet from its position on the stadium's new scoreboard.
"Before the renovation, Bobcat Stadium was very obviously built on a ‘home side vs. away side' plan," said Shewlakow. "The PA was attached to the press boxes on the home side. It provided coverage for both the home side, which ended up being too loud, and for the away side, which ended up too quiet."
The University did not want a new distributed system, so before MGA began participating on the project, the only solutions being considered were typical for scoreboard systems: multiple arrayable loudspeaker boxes.
"It was very, very far from ideal," said Garrison. "The available space within the scoreboard cabinet was limited, so no matter how many traditional boxes you could manage to cram in, the lack of coherency and limited maximum output would ensure poor sound quality, inadequate levels and even worse uniformity of coverage.
"Line array technology could theoretically deliver the desired sound levels and sonic quality," Garrison continued. "But, besides the fact that there was far too little physical space to contain such a system, there was also far too little budget."
After visiting other universities in the U.S., officials from Montana State University chose the Jericho Horn JH-90. Advanced Electronic Designs in Bozeman, MT, led by owner Bryan Robertus, completed the installation, and MGA did the final aiming, setup, programming and tuning.
In addition to the Jericho Horn, a pair of Danley SH-46 full-range loudspeakers provide fill for seats immediately adjacent to the scoreboard. A Lab.gruppen ST6000Q and two Lab.gruppen ST10000Q amplifiers provide power. A BSS London processor provides overall system balancing, timing delays for the SH-46s and input mixing. A Danley DSLP48 provides turnkey processing for the Jericho Horn.
For more information, visit: www.danleysoundlabs.com
