| By: Dan Daley, Audio Editor | Published: September 23, 2009 |
Among the horde of major-league stadia that have sprung up in the past few years, concert-grade PA systems have become the norm, matching monster HD video screens. Now that trend is manifesting itself in the minor leagues.
A good example is the new PA at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita, KS, home of the newly minted Wingnuts, who play in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball leagues. The field is reportedly the sixth-oldest in professional baseball; to some, the 20-plus-year-old sound system amplified that distinction. Locally based Conference Technologies Inc. (CTI) came aboard to change that.
The first order of business was the dismantling of the old PA, which had comprised 14 mammoth horns and six subs stacked on a 55-ft. platform out in center field, plus a few fill horns hanging below the balconies.
What would replace them would depend as much on budget considerations as on acoustics. The city, which owns the stadium, did not have the money that would normally be budgeted for a stadium sound system. “They came to us with what they could afford and asked, ‘What can you build?’” says George Sherman, the project’s manager for CTI.
The solution was a small line array consisting of six EAW full-range KF760 cabinets. Each cabinet has two 75-mm. high-frequency horns, two 10-in. midrange speakers, and two 12-in. woofers, all stacked in a roughly 7-ft.-tall column on the towering riser. The 1,400-lb. rig had to be winched into place.
It’s powered by two equipment racks with six EAW CAZ1400 amplifiers; processing is by an EAW UX8800. Two Crown CTS 600 amps supply distributed sound systems in 10 sky boxes, a concourse area near the concession stands, and a press box, all still using the original speakers.
The new system has been getting plenty of use. “They do an extensive introduction at the beginning of each game,” says Sherman. “A Wingnut character flies through the stadium, and then they play music clips as they introduce each player. They do that again for each inning, playing special clips for each batter and at various moments in the game.”
CTI assembled and tuned the entire system in one five-day period, taking advantage of a Wingnuts road trip. “We had it ready for them to play at home that Saturday,” Sherman says.
The Wingnuts took off with a bang this season, had clinched a spot in the playoffs by mid July, and made it to game 5 before being bounced from the playoffs by the Lincoln (NE) Saltdogs. Attendance hit new highs as well. No telling how far you can go when things sound good.
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