Large indoor facilities can create a challenge for audio engineers, integrators, and installers. When University of Tennessee at Chattanooga needed a new PA system for its indoor aquatic center, the school turned to Danley Sound Labs for a solution.
Indoor facilities typically have high ceilings, concrete, glass and ceramic tiles, high levels of noise, frequent echoes, low speech intelligibility, and issues with moisture and humidity. With such poor acoustics and environmental issues, choosing and installing an audio system that can overcome these challenges can be very difficult. UT-Chattanooga found this out firsthand.
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“The Aquatics and Recreation Center Pool utilized a portable PA system that the department used when needed,” said Ray Soldano, space design technician at UT-Chattanooga. “When the Center’s prior PA was first installed, the pool area was not included. So, when the system began to fail, this space was added so the PA could be heard throughout the entirety of the building.”
Soldano turned to Howard Technology Solutions for assistance in designing the new space. The new installation needed to stand up to the enclosed pool environment while allowing the PA to distribute voice and music through Bluetooth, XLR, and other mediums.
“We chose four Danley Sound Labs SBH20LF loudspeakers to meet the need along with amplifiers, processors, routers and a touch panel from other partners including Crown and Extron,” said Doug Jackson, AV design engineer at Howard Technology Solutions. “We were able to choose the loudspeakers, their placement and the actual down angles needed to achieve the desired coverage of the space using Danley Direct modeling software.”
“Clarity and placement are important in a facility like UT-Chattanooga’s Aquatics and Recreation Center Pool area,” said Cooper Hedden, southeast regional sales manager at Danley Sound Labs. “The SBH20LF loudspeaker is perfect in this sort of use case. It is a high-fidelity loudspeaker with high directivity providing unmatched pattern control and increased speech intelligibility.”
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This installation also featured Danley’s “Extreme Weather” (EW) variant of the SBH20LF loudspeakers. EW loudspeakers utilize high-density, polyurethane panels that include fiberglass fibers to provide additional strength and are more impervious to harsh conditions like those found in an aquatic facility. The panels are approximately 40-60% lighter than plywood and do not absorb water to any significant degree. In addition, the panels are held together with adhesives utilized in the aerospace industry increasing durability. All of these qualities make Danley’s EW loudspeaker variants more mold and mildew resistant than other loudspeakers on the market.
“Feedback has been very positive," Soldano stated. "In my role, I haven’t needed outdoor-rated speakers frequently, however with the success of this installation I’m already looking at other projects where we can use Danley EW loudspeakers.”
