Crandon Off-Road Raceway, Wisconsin, US, which is home to the World Championship Off-Road Races, has updated its age-stricken PA system with Community R-Series loudspeakers.
The track also plays host to a variety of motor races, R/C races, concerts and other entertainment throughout the summer season.
The previous audio system, which consisted of traditional public address paging horns, was left unable to overcome track noise levels after years of weather exposure. This to prompted the racecourse to contact Kevin Mullins, sales and operations at Appleton-based integrator Arrow AV Group.
Having previously stewarded at the track for motor race, Mullins already had an idea of potential challenges so presented the venue with a design based on Community R-Series loudspeakers.
The installed system consists of thirty Community Pro R.5HPTs three-way horn loaded weather-resistant loudspeakers located at spectator points around the raceway, at the bleachers and at the pit building. Four R.25-94TZ two-way horn loaded coaxial, weather-resistant loudspeakers were deployed to supplement the sound outside the concessions barn while a further four Community Distributed Design Series DS5 surface-mount loudspeakers were installed inside the barn.
Electronics were installed in the announcement booth near the bleachers. These include a Biamp Nexia DSP, which provides mixing and DSP services, and Shure wireless microphone systems. The system has five spectator zones and a press feed for racing network productions. In addition, each zone has its own volume control. Arrow AV Group programmed the DSP with an AGC block to avoid amplifying motor noise when the cars pass by the announce booth.
Mullins says the owners are very pleased with their new system. Race announcements are now intelligible even when motor racing noise is at its peak. The system gets lots of compliments from spectators and pit workers who can finally hear the announcements anywhere around the track.
