The appropriately named Independence Bowl has been played every year since
1976 (the United States’ Bicentennial) and has become a much-anticipated staple of
the end-of-year bowl season. Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana hosts
the contest, which currently pits an AAC conference favourite against an ACC
conference favourite. The stadium holds 63,000 fans and is routinely packed to
capacity on the big day. The stadium’s owners ripped out the sound system in
anticipation of the 2015 game, and YESCO Electronics replaced it with two Danley
Jericho Horns, a Danley BC-415 subwoofer, and several Danley SH-96 loudspeakers
for fill.
“We replaced their old scoreboard with new state-of-the-art scoreboard technology,
and the twenty-year-old sound system had to go with it,’ explained Marty
Masewicz, a YESCO A/V systems engineer who operates out of the company’s
Logan, Utah office and oversaw the project. “Since Shreveport is so close to
Louisiana State University, almost everyone we worked with had been to a game at
LSU Tiger Stadium and heard LSU’s amazing new Danley system. Because of that,
everyone knew that a Danley point-source system could deliver the volume, clarity,
and impact that was needed for a modern stadium experience.’
He continued, “Just three Danley Jericho Horns can produce the output of many,
many line array boxes, which really simplifies the design and improves the
frequency response and phase coherence of the sound. The Jerichos are really
powerful; they can kick out 135dB and move a pop can one hundred yards away!
That’s a lot of energy! That’s perfect for a situation like this, where we’ve got
63,000 loud and excited fans outside. Everyone has to be able to hear the
announcements clearly, and the impact of the music has to help elevate the live
stadium experience far above anything they could experience in their living rooms.’
Two of the Danley Jericho Horns are arranged on either side of the new scoreboard
to cover each side of the stadium. A handful of Danley SH-96 full-range
loudspeakers provide down-fill directly below and to the sides of the scoreboard.
Although the Jericho Horn (J1 variant) produces plenty of bass, an additional Danley
BC-415 subwoofer fills out the lowest lows to give the system earth-shaking
capabilities, literally. A Danley DSLP48 processor applies the necessary filters and
equalization behind an existing BiAmp processor for input conditioning and mixing.
Seven Danley EDA12000 two-channel amplifiers power the system efficiently.
“Independence Stadium’s new sound reinforcement system is a simple design that
was easy to install and sounds fantastic,’ said Masewicz. “All the engineering is
done by Danley. We didn’t need to figure out and aim a bunch of line array
components, which is way more complicated and time consuming – and which
doesn’t produce such clean results. Even before we properly tuned the system, the
stadium officials were grinning ear to ear as AC-DC filled the stands! It’s such a
simple and effective system, but it made us look like miracle workers!’