When the Conroe Independent School District (CISD) needed a new sound system for the 10,000-seat Woodforest National Bank Stadium, it looked to TASC A/V to deliver system capable of loud, yet clean and clear audio to serve a large, noisy, enthusiastic football crowd – plus straightforward and simple system control.
The stadium – which is located 40 miles north of Houston – rivals professional venues in capacity and technology. And was the recipient of $1m in naming rights when the National Bank sought branding.
‘This was the second large stadium we’ve done for the Conroe Independent School District,’ says TASC’s Steven Spruell. ‘A couple of years ago, we put a similar system into the Moorhead Stadium, which is in Conroe and seats 8,400. And we also used a pair of Symetrix Radius DSPs for that install.’
Similarly, the TASC A/V team chose a Symetrix Prism 12x12 DSP for the Woodforest National Bank Stadium. ‘Woodforest’s previous sound system was always underwhelming,’ Spruell continues. ‘It was underpowered, and its frequency range was poor. We’re high school football fans, like everyone else around here, so we experienced it first hand. The new system needed not only power to be heard above the crowd but clarity. One reason we chose a Symetrix DSP was its sound quality.’
Symetrix Prism DSPs offer 128 (64x64) Dante channels for ultra-reliable multichannel audio networking over IP. The Prism’s analogue I/O is scalable; the Prism 12x12 chosen for Woodforest Bank Stadium provides 12 switchable balanced mic or line-level inputs and 12 line-level outputs. Prism’s embedded web server displays I/O levels, diagnostics data, and hosts Symetrix’ ARC-Web browser-based interface for smartphones, tablets, and computers.
‘We went with an all-Dante system, which is another reason the Prism was the right choice,’ Spruell says. ‘The Prism has an excellent Dante implementation.’
To deliver the requisite power, the TASC A/V team mounted two Community R6-51 high-output, horn-loaded loudspeaker systems on custom-built towers in the south end zone, opposite the Daktronics scoreboard. The speakers are driven by 14kW Lab.gruppen power amplifiers. ‘At the far end of the field, the speakers can still hit 96-97dB, with plenty of headroom,’ Spruell says. ‘Between the speaker’s power and the overall system’s sound quality, fans have no problem hearing everything.’
In addition to its Dante support, sound quality, and compatibility with third-party controllers, Spruell appreciates the Symetrix processor’s ease of programming. ‘Symetrix’ Composer software made it easy to program the Prism,’ he details. ‘With Composer, we can design a complete end-to-end DSP signal path, including routing the Dante streams and programming the user interface. That makes a big difference in projects such as this one.’
Having installed two systems in CISD stadia, both based on Symetrix DSPs, TASC can claim two of the most important sound system projects in the area: ‘Both stadium systems have been a big success,’ Spruell confirms. ‘We use a lot of Symetrix DSPs, and the new Woodforest National Bank Stadium system is a good example of why. It works great, sounds great, was easy to program, and is easy to control-everything we and the school district hoped for.’
More: www.symetrix.co
