Ask the faculty, staff or even the head football coach at De La Salle High School, what the institution's finest accomplishment has been over the last decade or so, and chances are that the varsity football's 10-year-plus undefeated string won't top the list. Although it is known as a national powerhouse, De La Salle places the highest priority on character development and academics; success on the field, they believe, is secondary, and a result rather than a goal.
Still, when you've got family, fans and scouts from across the country coming to your games, it's only fair to provide them with the most attractive environment possible. When De La Salle decided to upgrade the audio component of its football stadium, the Concord, CA all-boys school (a girls facility is nearby) placed a call to Spitzer Music, who designed and installed a new audio system complete with Community loudspeakers.
In addition to the services it provides as a music store, Spitzer Music is also licensed to install the kind of speaker set up that De La Salle required. Graham Cooper, who has been with the company for more than 20 years, supervised the job. "Prior to this installation, we'd done several projects with De La Salle," he said. "They are a pleasure to work with."
Cooper added that the requirements that Spitzer Music was presented with were that the loudspeakers had to "sound great, provide appropriate coverage and be weather-resistant." After considering several options, the company went with a package of Community speakers, representing a significant upgrade from the system the school had in place, which was simply "four tiny horns mounted on top of the announcer's booth."
The plan that Spitzer Music put together resulted in the school's purchase of a pair of Community R.5-99-X speakers, a pair of R.1 66-Xs, and also a pair of IO8-BT speakers-all for the home side of the field. The R.1s, Community's larger-format horns, were placed on the outside light standards, which is some distance from the bleachers, providing coverage to that portion of the bleachers. In addition, there are a few seats on the home side of the field that are masked by the announcer's booth, so Cooper suggested installing the IO8-BTs.
On the visitors' side, four R.5-99TX speakers were employed. The TX is a transformer model, so Cooper decided to run approximately 350 feet of cable to these units. The transformer allows users to run cable at these longer distances.
Community's rep, John Hood of TroutFarm Technical Sales, helped to select the package of speakers that was chosen, and at the conclusion of the installation, he assisted in setting levels, equalizing the system and engaging speaker protection within the amplifiers purchased.
"In terms of sound quality, durability and ease of installation, the speakers are outstanding," Cooper said. "The expectations placed on audio delivery have risen dramatically."
