Schools upgrades football stadium with Community speakers, DSP

Eastern High School, in Voorhees, New Jersey, is a regional district school with 2100 students.  Its main outdoor stadium is a 2500-seat, multi-season venue used for football, field hockey and track and field events. In 2012, Eastern began a major renovation that will conclude with new artificial turf and a new track in time for June, 2013 graduation ceremonies.

As part of the renovation, Eastern upgraded itsstadium sound system with Community R-Series, WET Series and iBOX loudspeakers. The stadium previously had four Community R-Series model R2-474 loudspeakers on light poles – two at both ends of the home team bleachers. JD Sound and Video refurbished these, added Polar Focus brackets and re-aimed the R2s for better coverage.  JD then added a pair of WET Series W2-218s on the press box to cover the home-team bleachers and delayed the original R2s to avoid artificial echoes. JD also added an R2-52 on the press box aimed to cover the visiting team bleachers. For Eastern’s pep rallies and special events, JD added a pair of weatherised Community iBOX dual 15-inch i215 subwoofers.

Joe DiSabatino of JD Sound and Video comments: “The original system was better than most high school sound systems. You can really feel the music.”

Technology installed in the press booth includes a Rane mixer, Shure wireless microphone system and Crown amplifiers. JD also installed a Community dSPEC DSP Loudspeaker Processor for equalisation, delay and loudspeaker optimisation. In addition, JD added an iPOD/iPHONE input at trackside with a microphone input, volume control and key switch. For practices or simple events, this set-up allows coaches or students to operate the system without accessing the main controls in the press box.