Grand Forks Arena

The Solution

New digital signal processor, updated connections.

 

In 2002, Sound Solutions installed a new sound system at the Grand Forks arena. It replaced an aging sound system that wasn’t meeting the needs of the growing community. We installed a new sound system rack, consisting of an analog mixer/preamplifier, an equalizer, digital delay, and sundry other equipment to process the audio signal to the two Crown power amplifiers, and out to the Bose speakers.

We used a central cluster with four Bose 502A Panaray speakers over the ice, along with a Bose 502B subwoofer to provide ample bass throughout the arena. Eight additional Bose 402 speakers were used as delay speakers to cover the seating areas around the rink.

In 2014 we inspected the sound system to make sure it was fully functional for the upcoming high school graduation ceremony and found the digital delay unit was introducing excessive hiss and hum into the sound system, and two other pieces of equipment were showing signs of wear.

The new sound system rack, including a Lectrosonic digital signal processor (DSP) was installed later that summer. We reused their existing wireless microphones that were in good working shape. A new volume control panel simplified the control of the sound system, as all inputs were now fed directly into the DSP unit. All sensitive equalizer and limiter adjustments were programmed via laptop, and locked out once set. Lots of room was freed up in the rack due to the DSP unit taking the place of several rack components. More powerful Crest CC2800 amplifiers were installed to replace the Crown amplifiers. The Lectrosonics DSP was programmed so that the existing Bose speakers (which were still in great shape) could not be overdriven. With these upgrades there was a significant improvement in sound quality in the arena.

Finally, we added two Factor Electronics lockable mic and music input connectors into the penalty boxes, and a Bluetooth wireless receiver in the rack, so that any Bluetooth enabled smartphone or MP3 player could play wirelessly through the arena sound system.