Sports Stadium Audio Visual Systems | LEA Install At Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
When East Carolina University stadium experienced debilitating audio issues right in the middle of football season, a solution had to be found before the fan experience started to suffer. And what could be better to power the sports stadium audio visual system for the ECU Pirates, than a rack packed with shark fins.
Let’s dive into the system details for the who, what, why, and how of this audio system touchdown.
THE SPEC
SPORTS STADIUM AUDIO VISUAL SYSTEMS | LEA INSTALL AT DOWDY–FICKLEN STADIUM
Venue: Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, home of the ECU Pirates
Install Purpose: Old system malfunctions
Integrator: PC Sound
Product Used: CONNECTSERIES 704D (X8)
THE VENUE
Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium is the on-campus football facility at East Carolina University for the East Carolina Pirates in Greenville, North Carolina. The stadium has a capacity of 50,000, making it the second largest college stadium in North Carolina.
THE INTEGRATOR
SPORTS STADIUM AUDIO VISUAL SYSTEMS | LEA INSTALL AT DOWDY–FICKLEN STADIUM
PC Sound is here to serve you, in everything that is music-related such as finding the perfect guitar for your daughter’s birthday, repairing your guitar amp that you need for a weekend gig, putting together the sound system that fits your needs, teaching your son how to play the guitar or drums, or providing a sound system rental with lights for your wedding day.
THE INSTALL
SPORTS STADIUM AUDIO VISUAL SYSTEMS | LEA INSTALL AT DOWDY–FICKLEN STADIUM
James Braddy, Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) at PC Sound, a local specialist in pro audio, video and lighting installations, got a call on a Monday in September from the Associate Athletics Director at ECU, Greg Pierce. Pierce explained that the previous weekend’s home game had been overshadowed by a series of audio issues.
“At the time, half the sound system didn’t sound like it was working,” said Pierce. “I knew we needed a solution and we needed it yesterday.”
On the weekend in question, stadium goers and players had complained that they couldn’t hear, and the system would cut in and out. According to Braddy, 60% of the stadium’s legacy amplifiers were off and the other ones were going into thermal protection mode.
While PC Sound tried to find a solution fast, they also knew the current supply chain could be an issue.
“I have always been able to get amps from LEA Professional through their rep Mavric and they are my go-to provider,” commented Braddy. “We put the order in on a Tuesday at 7pm and within 4 minutes I had a reply from Scott Robbins the VP of Sales, with different options. The amplifiers were delivered to us on that Thursday and on Friday we did the install, ready for the weekend’s games.”
For Braddy, most of this was possible because of the simple set up feature on the Connect Series amplifiers.
“One of my favorite things about these amplifiers is just the speed of setup”, said Braddy. “Being able to push a button and connect to it with my phone or iPad tablet, without downloading an app or registering an account is fantastic.”
The PC Sound team installed eight of our 704D Dante Connect Series amplifiers.
“The new amps, combined with a new mixer we added, ensured the stadium sounded much cleaner and clearer than it had ever sounded before, even though we were still dealing with some blown speakers at the time,” continued Braddy.
The following game sounded even better according to the team at PC Sound, and the stadium was ready for homecoming the following week, which included a performance by a live band.
Braddy continues to choose LEA amplifiers for all installs he conducts. “These amps have built-in DSP processing and tons of flexibility with the ability to double the power on one channel without having to compromise on losing a channel. Not only that, they look and sound great!”
Currently, the system at ECU runs on analog connections, but the plan in the immediate future is to switch it over to a Dante audio network. This provides the stadium with another safety feature, if the Dante network goes down for any reason, it will automatically switch to analog.
THE CONCLUSION
SPORTS STADIUM AUDIO VISUAL SYSTEMS | LEA INSTALL AT DOWDY–FICKLEN STADIUM
For Greg Pierce, the new system is exactly what they needed.
“It was everything we needed and some. I couldn’t have asked for better and we’re just so grateful to have a superior sound system in the stadium for our players and fans alike.”
We’d like to thank James Braddy and his team at PC Sound for choosing our amps for this killer installation and we hope that the audio systems will continue to deliver reliable audio to Pirates fans for years to come.
If you have any questions or feedback about using amplifiers for sports stadium audio visual systems like this or any other projects, feel free to fill out the form below or reach out to us on our social media channels.
