Carroll County School System

Leveling the playing field for high school stadium audio

CLIENT

INDUSTRY

Education, Athletics

LOCATION

Carrollton, GA

DATE

August 2019

TECH

Audio · Control

Central-HS-WGA-16-864x1200_v1 - dB Integrations

Our Solution Story

Carroll County, about 50 miles west of Atlanta and bordering Alabama, is home to a thriving public school system with five high schools—Bowdon, Central, Mount Zion, Temple, and Villa Rica. All five schools have robust athletics programs and facilities, with stadium capacities ranging from 2,500 to over 5,000. The Carroll County School System contracted with dB Integrations to upgrade their football stadiums’ audio systems.

AUDIO + CONTROL

Central High School, located in the county seat of Carrollton, had an outdated, malfunctioning sound system. After being approached by two of Carroll County’s five high schools, dB’s Ronnie Stanford arranged a meeting with the whole school district, demonstrating several audio systems to determine the best fit for each school’s needs and goals. County school officials opted to install identical sound systems at all five stadiums, including Central’s, so that sports fans county-wide could have an equitable fan experience.

Central-HS-WGA-12-864x1200_v1 - dB Integrations

Audio

As at other football stadiums in the county, Central’s amplified sound was muted and muffled, difficult to hear and to understand. dB designed a new audio system built around a pair of Danley SH62 loudspeakers, designed for long-throw applications, which can cover Central’s entire stadium. The SH62’s high-intelligibility audio, plus a BC412 subwoofer, creates a perfect combination of full-range audio and thunderous low-frequency response at a budget-friendly price that was perfect for a cost-conscious school district. DNA 20k4 Pro Dante-enabled amplifiers round out the system.

Central and the other schools all have existing scoreboards, not included in the renovation plans, which are not built to support the weight of the heavy loudspeakers. But dB has already created a solution for this situation—a 16’-by-8’ tower, installed behind the end zone, specially designed to hold the loudspeakers, subwoofer, and amplifiers (in a climate-controlled rack). The tower’s two loudspeakers deliver sound to the playing field and all the stands. Spoken announcements and play calls, as well as recorded music, come through loud and clear to the entire stadium.

As part of their comprehensive audio package, dB provided Central High School with Shure push-to-talk microphones, Sennheiser wireless microphones (perfect for on-field referees, performers, and announcers), and a Denon CD player with Bluetooth connectivity.

control

An Allen & Heath Qu-Pac mixer (a rack-mounted digital mixing console) provides horsepower and flexibility in a compact package and creates a secure control only accessible to approved administrators, protecting the system from misuse.

With optional Dante connectivity on the amplifiers, the entire system can be controlled from the press box, using an iPad tablet as the control surface. All components of this integrated system are controlled from one rack, programmed to work together with the push of a single button. The operator can simply plug in a laptop (or other source) to provide the chosen music. This makes the system very simple for staff or authorized volunteers to operate.

Recap

Fans of the Central High School Lions, and all their Carroll County rivals, are now able to fully engage in the game experience. The heightened fan involvement contributes to a greater home field advantage for the players, which we call a win-win situation!