As part of a long-overdue audio upgrade, Excelsior Springs High School in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, has installed two Technomad PowerChiton 500 modules at the stadium to drive its loudspeakers.
Kansas City, Missouri-based systems integrator Harvest Productions, which performed the upgrade, housed the new PowerChiton modules inside the stadium’s scoreboard. The compact PowerChiton design enabled the unusual installation, ensuring they are not visible to spectators. The PowerChiton amplifiers now deliver 1100 watts at four ohms across the stadium. The modules are built with an integral IP66-rated, NEMA weatherproof shell, and can be installed anywhere without concern about moisture or dirt.
“The old amplifiers were a mess; we found insects nesting inside the amplifier casings, which were standard electrical boxes without any weather sealing,” said Martin Pilewski, Corporate Business Development Manager at Harvest Productions. “Plus, the casings would cause the amplifiers to overheat. Every time this happened the staff would turn up the volume, which caused the speakers to blow.”
The PowerChiton design requires only a passive radiator for cooling, so there is a lower chance that the system will overheat. The amplifier unit is also fuse-protected for maximum operational efficiency.
“We have one of the most sophisticated high school stadiums in the area, and it was embarrassing when our speakers blew out during a football game,” said Roger Siegel, assistant director of activities at Excelsior Springs High School. “We’ve been up and running with the new system for a year now and the sound quality is a monumental improvement. The audio is crisp, clear and perfectly leveled across the stadium. We are absolutely thrilled with our new system.”
The PowerChiton is available in both wireless and Ethernet options. Pilewski chose the Ethernet version as the most cost-effective configuration for Excelsior Springs High School.
“The system was easy to set up and install,” he said. “There were already solid line level feeds in the scoreboard, so there was no need to overhaul anything just to install wireless units. We just screwed the amplifier to a wall, connected the input and output through compression fittings and plugged in the unit. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.”
