Where to Install Loudspeakers in a Small Baseball Stadium

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Baseball stadiums, like football / soccer stadiums, need loudspeakers installed in the correct location.

What Not to Do:

Wrong Loudspeaker Location I Problems

• Installing loudspeakers facing each stand area seems is somewhat better than the first approach, but it still has problems.
• First off, where are you going to mount the loudspeakers? A pole in front of each stand area would work, but installing poles can be expensive and would interfere with sightlines. Loudspeakers mounted down low might be stolen, and would be close to ear-height for the front row. Not ideal.
• Wiring is another problem – the cable runs required to reach from wherever the announcer is (and were the control rack is likely to be) all the way to the stands may be several hundred feet. This requires either VERY thick or expensive cable (to avoid wasting all the amplifier power in the wire), or a more costly “70-volt” system.
• Another problem is coverage – by pointing loudspeakers towards the stands only, the field and areas behind home plate remain uncovered. Additional loudspeakers may be needed, which is costly and leads to other problems with echo, acoustic cancellation, wiring etc.
• Another problem is that any “excess” sound is radiating out of the stadium behind the stands- perhaps into a residential neighborhood.
Not good!
Wrong Loudspeaker Location II Problems

• Installing loudspeakers behind each set of stands is better than the first approach, but it still leads to many problems. The sound from each loudspeaker spills onto the field and into the other stands – resulting in an impossible-to-kill echo. This echo degrades speech clarity and music quality. Very bad!
• Wiring is another problem – the cable runs required to reach the loudspeakers from wherever the Control Rack is installed will be long. This requires either VERY thick or expensive cable (to avoid wasting all the amplifier power in the wire), or a more costly “70-volt” system.
Correct Loudspeaker Location Advantages

Note: loudspeakers are installed high on the backstop, well above head height and pointing towards each stand area.

Advantages:
• Installing loudspeakers on high up on backstop means that both loudspeakers act as one – from one “source point” for audio heard everywhere in the stadium. Result: minimal echo, good speech and music clarity!
• Cable runs are very short, reducing cost and making installation quick and simple. Cables only have to reach from the Control Rack to the top of the backstop.
• Coverage is optimal: because of Technomad loudspeakers wide dispersion pattern, both sets of bleachers and the field area are
covered.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. “Don’t the loudspeakers fry the ears of fans sitting near them or the batter?
A. No. First of all, Technomad loudspeakers do not produce the nasty horn-throat distortion typical of horn-based systems, so the sound at all locations in the stadium is smooth, clear, and non-abrasive. The loudspeakers on the press box should be installed high on the backstop, above the batter, pointing in the direction of each set of stands. This results in complete coverage of stands and the field. This approach also minimizes spillage into adjacent areas.

Q. “I HAVE to install the loudspeakers on a light pole. What should I do?”
A. If it is really impossible to install as described above, then AT LEAST install all the loudspeakers on a single pole in a “cluster”, pointing the individual loudspeakers in the cluster as needed to cover the seating and field. Keeping the loudspeakers in a cluster avoids the different-listening-distances problem described above, and increases bass response of the overall system.

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