The stadium, home to the MTSU Blue Raiders teams that play in the Division One Sun Belt Conference, is the newest venue within the university’s Murphy Center Complex, which comprises all the athletic venues on campus. According to Josh Hoevelmann, Electronic Equipment Engineer for MTSU Murphy Center, the Technomad Berlin loudspeakers rival the larger PA systems used for the football and baseball stadiums on campus.
“Everyone I talk to on campus is surprised at the audio quality and power output we’re achieving from just two loudspeakers,”
Hoevelmann and his team built the PA rack and installed the loudspeakers, which were custom-ordered from Technomad in blue to match the team colors that are visible throughout the stadium. The loudspeakers were installed on the opposite corners of the press box exterior to ensure that those at the farthest corners of the field could clearly hear the audio, particularly during track and field events when the attendance can far exceed the official seating. In addition to providing even coverage throughout the stadium, the smooth audio pattern eliminates bleeding into nearby residential neighborhoods — an ongoing challenge for the university.
“There is residential housing across the street from the complex, and the original design called for installing the loudspeakers in the scoreboard, which faces the neighborhood,”
The loudspeakers sit outside all year unprotected from the elements, which according to Hoevelmann include intense rain and hail in the fall and winter, and high heat in the summer. The weatherproof construction is only one aspect of the design that he and his team have found favorable. The loudspeakers are unconventionally mounted on the press box: Instead of using the supplied mounting brackets, the installation team took advantage of fly points on the Berlins and chained them to a fence sitting atop the press box.
“The press box construction did not allow us to use the brackets, but the loudspeakers offer many fly points in the design to use eye bolts for unconventional installations,”
ABOUT TECHNOMAD
Technomad Associates, LLC, founded in 1995, designs and manufactures loudspeaker systems for the professional audio and security/military technology industries. The company invented the first reliable full-range weatherproof loudspeaker and now offers eight models ranging in power from the 60-watt Vernal 15 to the 800-watt Chicago 15/12 subwoofer. In 2000, Technomad introduces its range of complete Turnkey PA systems that have turned previous complex integration jobs into simple, one-line orders. Please contact Technomad at 617-275-8898 or visit www.technomad.com for more information.
