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Title: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: brian maddox on January 09, 2018, 09:25:27 PM
Okay, so my daughter's High School got a brand new building just in time for her Senior year.  Which is super cool.  She is very active in sports and we are avid boosters for the Girls Basketball and Softball teams as a result.

While the old Gym was funky and cool in it's own weird way, i was really looking forward to enjoying watching games in a new state-of-the-art facility.  And with regards to watching the games, the place certainly doesn't disappoint, with superior sight lines, better climate control, Much better lighting, etc.

But then there's the sound system.  Mind you, my bar is VERY low when it comes to gymnasium sound.  It's a gym, and i don't expect it to NOT sound like a gym.  If i can understand the announcer and there isn't hideous clipping or distortion, i'm good.  But as soon as we walked in to take our seats in the bleachers i knew i was going to have a bad time...

There are approximately 12 full range speakers arranged in a symmetrical grid in the ceiling.  They are painted to match the ceiling with all the cables run neatly in conduit.  All in all a completely professional installation.  Except ALL of the speakers are placed over the Basketball court, and ALL are facing straight down.  There are exactly ZERO speakers pointed in the direction of the bleachers or any other spectator area in the room.  So unless you are on the actual court or in the 10 feet or so surrounding the court, you are completely out of the speakers coverage zone.  So, the announcer seated next to the court can hear GREAT.  I know because his mic was feeding back the entire time.  And the 10 players and 3 referees also hear perfectly.  But if you're anywhere else you're out of luck.

I mean, i know we talk about this sort of thing all the time but...  Come On.  How hard is it to know that you have to point the speakers to where the people are in order for them to function correctly? 

The best i can tell, the designer was given 2 criteria...

1.  You must use loudspeakers capable of clear undistorted vocal intelligibility.

2.  You must deploy those loudspeakers in such a way as to ensure they are as unintelligible as physically possible.

Mission Accomplished!

I don't even want to know how much was spent on this install, since it's my money they spent.

Why?  Why is this so hard?  Why do building designers make the same mistakes over and over and over!!!!!

[Shaking Fist At Cloud!!!!!!!!!!!]

/end rant
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Scott Holtzman on January 09, 2018, 10:30:37 PM
Okay, so my daughter's High School got a brand new building just in time for her Senior year.  Which is super cool.  She is very active in sports and we are avid boosters for the Girls Basketball and Softball teams as a result.

While the old Gym was funky and cool in it's own weird way, i was really looking forward to enjoying watching games in a new state-of-the-art facility.  And with regards to watching the games, the place certainly doesn't disappoint, with superior sight lines, better climate control, Much better lighting, etc.

But then there's the sound system.  Mind you, my bar is VERY low when it comes to gymnasium sound.  It's a gym, and i don't expect it to NOT sound like a gym.  If i can understand the announcer and there isn't hideous clipping or distortion, i'm good.  But as soon as we walked in to take our seats in the bleachers i knew i was going to have a bad time...

There are approximately 12 full range speakers arranged in a symmetrical grid in the ceiling.  They are painted to match the ceiling with all the cables run neatly in conduit.  All in all a completely professional installation.  Except ALL of the speakers are placed over the Basketball court, and ALL are facing straight down.  There are exactly ZERO speakers pointed in the direction of the bleachers or any other spectator area in the room.  So unless you are on the actual court or in the 10 feet or so surrounding the court, you are completely out of the speakers coverage zone.  So, the announcer seated next to the court can hear GREAT.  I know because his mic was feeding back the entire time.  And the 10 players and 3 referees also hear perfectly.  But if you're anywhere else you're out of luck.

I mean, i know we talk about this sort of thing all the time but...  Come On.  How hard is it to know that you have to point the speakers to where the people are in order for them to function correctly? 

The best i can tell, the designer was given 2 criteria...

1.  You must use loudspeakers capable of clear undistorted vocal intelligibility.

2.  You must deploy those loudspeakers in such a way as to ensure they are as unintelligible as physically possible.

Mission Accomplished!

I don't even want to know how much was spent on this install, since it's my money they spent.

Why?  Why is this so hard?  Why do building designers make the same mistakes over and over and over!!!!!

[Shaking Fist At Cloud!!!!!!!!!!!]

/end rant

In my other world I do a lot of school technology.  The pro installation kinda gives this away.  Whoever had the electrical contract probably also did the data, fire, controls and pretty much anything you can get a union electrician to do.  I bet they are hung with unistrut and allthread (this just screams electrician).  They bid it all as a package and met the contractors spec.  That is all the matters. 

We installed a 150k network with top of the line wireless.  They forgot to include connectivity to the Internet.  I heard of a contractor that named his boat "change order".

Now if you had gone over and gotten whomever had to sign off for them to get paid to bitch about the sound they would have moved heaven and earth to make them happy.

K-12 tech is its own special bizarro universe.

Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on January 10, 2018, 09:33:31 AM
Life typically gives us the answers only after we take the test, often we don't get do overs.

The good news in that gymnasium, the speakers can get repointed.

JR
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Craig Hauber on January 10, 2018, 11:06:18 AM

I don't even want to know how much was spent on this install, since it's my money they spent.

Why?  Why is this so hard?  Why do building designers make the same mistakes over and over and over!!!!!

[Shaking Fist At Cloud!!!!!!!!!!!]

/end rant
Did you check to see if the very expensive DSP was actually programmed and not just straight-lined in to out?

And at least your speakers were pointing down -ours had several pointing directly at the walls 20' up -actually increasing the slap-echo in the place.

Or how about the piles of un-installed gear that music teachers and custodian had to ask me about because they didn't know what it was for and had been sitting there for years.

None of the gear was crap, just deployed wrong, incompleted or simply not installed at all!


Frustrating is that it's public money and the school district gets over 2/3 of my total property tax bills.

There's never any repercussions to the architects and contractors yet they get to charge higher and get paid more than they could in private contracts.

A/V consultant who's nameplate is on all the racks also has every relevant "industry certification" that I keep reading about in System Contractor News.  Makes me now doubt the value of such certification if it still means that the resultant install is garbage.

Sorry, don't mean to get ranting too, but I've seen this type of thing in more than one project.

Something is seriously wrong with the "system" and it really casts doubt on other aspects of public projects. 
(Such as:  Is structural, electrical, hvac and plumbing also installed with the same attention given to the A/V?)
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Hal Bissinger/COMSYSTEC on January 10, 2018, 11:05:44 PM
Quote
Is structural, electrical, hvac and plumbing also installed with the same attention given to the A/V?

Yes because it's installed by the same people. Consultant designs it and comes around later to collect the check.

-Hal
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Caleb Dueck on January 11, 2018, 07:35:02 AM
Yes because it's installed by the same people. Consultant designs it and comes around later to collect the check.

-Hal
Designs = modified cut and paste. 

Yes AV is often a subset of the electrical bid portion.  For better or (typically) worse.

It seems that AV companies that focus on the K12 market focus on the classrooms - simple, tiny, copy/paste.  Anything more complex is too much and requires a consultant.  Not that adding a consultant into the mix guarantees a better outcome (yes there are actually a few good consultants).

I don't miss those projects.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Ivan Beaver on January 11, 2018, 07:37:42 AM
Did you check to see if the very expensive DSP was actually programmed and not just straight-lined in to out?


I have actually seen that on a local large (gets all the new schools) install.

They had a biamp nexia DSP, and the input was wired to the output-no eq- no limiters-no highpass, not even a level control.

Because "everybody" knows that a DSP will make the sound better-----
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: scottstephens on January 11, 2018, 10:08:13 AM
   I'm with ya, Brother.  Our local school went with the lowest bid and they got what they paid for. Crappy Sound Tech speakers with holes drilled into the sides and steel cable wrapped around the handles. No EQ except the mixer amp and no intelligibility. They  go "Boom, Boom Boom and at the vocals sound like MMMPPHFFF and MMMMPPPHHHFF.

  They company goes out of business and then they call us and ask "We have $200.00 left in the budget can you make it understandable?"  We said those speakers are NOT meant to hang or fly and will come down and hurt somebody AND WALKED AWAY.

By the way, the school spent $9500 on the 8 speakers, the mixer amp and 200 ft. of 16 gauge cable.  Our bid was $15K for Community's and things done right.

Scott
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Don T. Williams on January 11, 2018, 05:26:28 PM
I have actually seen that on a local large (gets all the new schools) install.

They had a biamp nexia DSP, and the input was wired to the output-no eq- no limiters-no highpass, not even a level control.

Because "everybody" knows that a DSP will make the sound better-----

A local High School auditorium with a fairly decent installed speaker system was set up the exact same way with the Nexia wired directly to the amp inputs by the "sound contractor???" This auditorium was used for a lot of civic events and even Christian and country concerts.  The Nexia was set up for a maximum 95db (as defined by said contractor with no specific parameters) with a 100 to 1 limiter for any higher levels.  They convinced the Superintendent of Schools that this was "for the protection of the students".  They refused to give anyone the "code" to make changes.  When the system got anywhere close to 85 - 90dB it just choked and the sound was lifeless.  You can guess how well that went over with visiting engineers!  Someone (I can't say who) found a way to replace the Nexia with another speaker processor (when needed), and the Superintendent doesn't know any better.  It still sounds crappy for the kids the rest of the time!
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Craig Hauber on January 12, 2018, 01:48:58 PM
A local High School auditorium with a fairly decent installed speaker system was set up the exact same way with the Nexia wired directly to the amp inputs by the "sound contractor???" This auditorium was used for a lot of civic events and even Christian and country concerts.  The Nexia was set up for a maximum 95db (as defined by said contractor with no specific parameters) with a 100 to 1 limiter for any higher levels.  They convinced the Superintendent of Schools that this was "for the protection of the students".  They refused to give anyone the "code" to make changes.  When the system got anywhere close to 85 - 90dB it just choked and the sound was lifeless.  You can guess how well that went over with visiting engineers!  Someone (I can't say who) found a way to replace the Nexia with another speaker processor (when needed), and the Superintendent doesn't know any better.  It still sounds crappy for the kids the rest of the time!

Telnet a "clear 0 devconfig" command to it.
-however be ready to go with a new configuration afterwards because it will be totally blank of everything.

Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Adam Kane on January 12, 2018, 04:37:59 PM
Did you check to see if the very expensive DSP was actually programmed and not just straight-lined in to out?

And at least your speakers were pointing down -ours had several pointing directly at the walls 20' up -actually increasing the slap-echo in the place.

Or how about the piles of un-installed gear that music teachers and custodian had to ask me about because they didn't know what it was for and had been sitting there for years.

None of the gear was crap, just deployed wrong, incompleted or simply not installed at all!


Frustrating is that it's public money and the school district gets over 2/3 of my total property tax bills.

There's never any repercussions to the architects and contractors yet they get to charge higher and get paid more than they could in private contracts.

A/V consultant who's nameplate is on all the racks also has every relevant "industry certification" that I keep reading about in System Contractor News.  Makes me now doubt the value of such certification if it still means that the resultant install is garbage.

Sorry, don't mean to get ranting too, but I've seen this type of thing in more than one project.

Something is seriously wrong with the "system" and it really casts doubt on other aspects of public projects. 
(Such as:  Is structural, electrical, hvac and plumbing also installed with the same attention given to the A/V?)

It's like you're in my head.

This is exactly what happened around here to three local districts about 10 years ago. Cookie-cutter systems in all the buildings. DSP's doing nearly nothing and speakers aimed poorly. The A/V contractor that got the work happens to be BFF's with the architect and consultant that was involved with these projects. Huge company with tons of techs and an office staff capable of generating massive amounts of paperwork and lovely documentation. They have every certification and qualification under the sun. The racks are all beautifully constructed and neatly wired, although removing an XLR connector requires cutting 103 zip-ties. And (heaven forbid) if you have to replace a piece of gear and the connectors are not in EXACTLY the same spot, it turns into a 45-minute wiring job.

We are doing a lot of work in all three districts now because the original A/V contractor rudely refused to service any of the systems. Great for us.

My favorite system of theirs is a multi-purpose room where they have 2 speaker zones driven by a 2-channel amp (not sized correctly to directly drive 70-volt) connected to a total of 12 70-volt ceiling speakers. 8-output EXPENSIVE processor with two outputs going to the amp, and the other 6 running into a conduit. 1 mono input routed to all 8 outputs, all with identical processing (meaning no real processing). I was wondering where the other 6 outputs were running. I gave the bundle of wires a tug and they all came out of the conduit with the ends cut off and taped. The blinking meters on the front panel of the processor made it look like it was doing something. Principal was furious, as was the technology director. That was the initial find that got us the rest of the work in that particular district.
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Don T. Williams on January 12, 2018, 04:45:14 PM
Telnet a "clear 0 devconfig" command to it.
-however be ready to go with a new configuration afterwards because it will be totally blank of everything.

Thanks, Craig.  I think the schools Drama Department has finally convinced the school that that processor is antiquated and  isn't needed because active loudspeakers and subs were added for stereo.  The old mono center cluster will get a newer processor.  And yes I know a mono center cluster is probably better for most things audio, but . . .
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Mike Caldwell on January 13, 2018, 01:02:49 AM
I have cleaned up a number of new school gym, cafeteria, auditeria sound systems and have seen everything mentioned here!

A few general things I've noticed on new school installations:
They don't know the difference between line level
and mic level.

They don't know the difference between stereo and balanced inputs, I've lost count of the number of stereo
source inputs wired to a balanced input with one stereo channel going to + and the other going to - I have found.

They think power amps must be the most important piece of equipment so they plug them into the first stages of a power sequencer system.


The trend now is to put 1/8 inch stereo "aux inputs" all over the place without proper transformers at the inputs and wire them to the mixer mono inputs like I mentioned.

At a recent job the 1/8 jacks were directly mounted in a steel plate tying the building ground and audio ground together resulting in a loud high pitch RF induced whine in the system since the day it was deemed finished.

In addition to other problems at a different school in checking the auditeria system after my first check 1  2 on the mic I told them half your speakers are not working.
These were Lowell open mount suspended speakers, after checking the dead speakers I found they were all tapped to OFF position, the tap selector is under the grill on those.
This was another school that was certified as meeting spec even after a return service call by the installer to address the problem of poor sound in the auditeria.


Two schools I've done work were certainly designed by the same guy, on the stage they had eight hanging mics, two rows of four, so far that seems fairly normal even though I have never found hanging mics to really pick what you want them to!!
In these cases the hanging mics were Earthworks omni measurement mics, I can't remember the model but when I looked them up they were in the $500 each price range.
As you can guess they never really worked well for that use, I told them they could sell those mics and buy something much more suited for choir pick up and have money left over.....to my knowledge those mics are still hanging at those schools.

Electrical contractors usually get the bid package that includes AV, security, technology. Some will (for better or worse) sub those jobs out, others just do it all in house, some have created an in house company with a different name and more or less sub it to themselves.
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Joseph D. Macry on January 18, 2018, 05:11:37 PM

There are approximately 12 full range speakers arranged in a symmetrical grid in the ceiling.  They are painted to match the ceiling with all the cables run neatly in conduit.  All in all a completely professional installation.  Except ALL of the speakers are placed over the Basketball court, and ALL are facing straight down.  There are exactly ZERO speakers pointed in the direction of the bleachers or any other spectator area in the room.  So unless you are on the actual court or in the 10 feet or so surrounding the court, you are completely out of the speakers coverage zone.  So, the announcer seated next to the court can hear GREAT.  I know because his mic was feeding back the entire time.  And the 10 players and 3 referees also hear perfectly.  But if you're anywhere else you're out of luck.

12 speakers in symmetrical grid. Two rows or three?
If these are trapezoid boxes, I would expect the ones closest to the bleachers to be aimed at center of bleachers, and those over center aimed down (and set to lower volume). I have no idea if the designer specified aim points or angles. But it wouldn't be hard to change given a lift and a few hours labor.
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: brian maddox on January 18, 2018, 05:24:33 PM
12 speakers in symmetrical grid. Two rows or three?
If these are trapezoid boxes, I would expect the ones closest to the bleachers to be aimed at center of bleachers, and those over center aimed down (and set to lower volume). I have no idea if the designer specified aim points or angles. But it wouldn't be hard to change given a lift and a few hours labor.

i think 4 by 3 but might be 4 x 4.  Regardless, the row closest to the bleachers is still about 15 feet away from the lowest bleacher bench.  And pointed straight down.  The floor in front of the bleachers may be in the pattern, but nothing above that.  And yes, It could be re-aimed fairly easily and i expect that will happen at some point. 

However...  New Expensive Publicly funded building = everybody is a critic = i'm not touching this issue with a ten foot pole.  :)

I'd rather just rant on here. 
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Joseph D. Macry on January 19, 2018, 10:23:30 AM

Electrical contractors usually get the bid package that includes AV, security, technology. Some will (for better or worse) sub those jobs out, others just do it all in house, some have created an in house company with a different name and more or less sub it to themselves.
Now granted I only see the jobs that I (a dedicated A/V contractor) work on BUT:
Schools in my area (central TX) tend to have AV systems built by AV contractors, security by security contractors, data by data contractors etc.
My biggest problem is implementing audio systems designed by IT guys. Common mistake: Specify a network-capable (or Dante enabled) power amplifier (extra several hundred dollars) then not connect it to anything on the network, or connect it and do nothing network-y with it. And they don't understand cabling requirements for analog audio.
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Mike Caldwell on January 19, 2018, 11:24:44 AM
And they don't understand cabling requirements for analog audio.

I went on a service call about noise in the gym sound system to a school that had been recently remodeled. For some reason during the remodeling they pulled out all of the perfectly good audio cable running to the various input jacks in the gym replaced it with Cat5 and replaced the nice stainless steel wall plates with XLRs mounted in plastic Decora inserts. Even better at the mixer where the inputs all came back to they just wire nutted on cut off cheap XLR cables to plug into the mixer.

The system had a high frequency RF whine in it any time it was on.

The new sections of that school were all wired the same way with similar noise issues.

I told powers to be at the school what the problem was and after
a few "discussions" the contractor re-pulled the correct wire, I went back, terminated and set the systems up to actually work.
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: David Pedd on January 19, 2018, 12:14:56 PM
I went a service call about noise in the gym sound system to a school that had been recently remodeled. For some reason during the remodeling they pulled all of the perfectly good audio cable running to the various input jacks in the gym replaced it with Cat5 and replaced the nice stainless steel wall plates with XLRs mounted in plastic Decora inserts. Even better at the mixer where the inputs all came back to they just wire nutted on cut off cheap XLR cables to plug into the mixer.

The system had a high frequency RF whine in it any time it was on.

The new sections of that school were all wired the same way with similar noise issues.

I told powers to be at the school what the problem was and after
a few "discussions" the contractor re-pulled the correct wire, I went back, terminated and set the systems up to actually work.

Years ago (early 90's) I did a service call at a school and found the system had a programmable EQ in the rack.  The problem was, it had never been set up.   Found out the install company didn't have a laptop to connect to do the setup!  You see all kinds of things.
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Tim McCulloch on January 20, 2018, 02:47:12 PM
For a large indoor athletic facility I was asked to "verify" (after the installer's call back period expired, go figure), one of the specific criteria the athletic dept had was "more sound on the floor for the athletes."  I guess it's an emotion/motivational thing for the pumping music and blasting announcer vox.  Because that was the jock-oriented need, that was the only thing the Person In Charge actually listened to before signing off on the installation.

He completely missed the big dead spot(s) and seating sections that have lousy intelligibility due to multiple speakers aimed there (want to guess where they should have been aimed?).  These speaker aiming failures are welded in place so the issues will not be addressed for at least another 10-15 years when another billionaire donor is tapped for new video scoreboards, remodeled locker rooms and better video patch/fiber runs.
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Mike Caldwell on January 20, 2018, 07:58:38 PM
Let's not forget to mention that sometimes the speakers are OK and actually aimed into the bleachers but have thick heavy banners hung up directly in front of each one!!
Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Craig Leerman on March 24, 2018, 01:37:16 AM
Let's not forget to mention that sometimes the speakers are OK and actually aimed into the bleachers but have thick heavy banners hung up directly in front of each one!!

I just had a similar install where the subs were located under a small stage and were placed a few feet back from grill where the sound could exit. I was told that after the club got new carpet, the sub level was low.

In between the subs and the grills, the carpet installer had stored tons of scrap carpet and padding in case they had to repair the carpet in the future. We had the maintenance guys remove all the carpet and padding from in front of the subs. Problem solved.

Title: Re: New High School Gym - Mini Rant
Post by: Mike Caldwell on March 24, 2018, 05:00:57 PM
I just had a similar install where the subs were located under a small stage and were placed a few feet back from grill where the sound could exit. I was told that after the club got new carpet, the sub level was low.

In between the subs and the grills, the carpet installer had stored tons of scrap carpet and padding in case they had to repair the carpet in the future. We had the maintenance guys remove all the carpet and padding from in front of the subs. Problem solved.

I had almost the same thing a couple years ago at a church service call.

I could hear the rumbling of a subwoofer but could not see or locate where it was coming from, guy at the church told me it was under the stage, the stage had doors all along the front that opened into the dead space under the stage that was used for storage. They put the subs under the stage each by one of the doors and then closed the doors and the stage front along with the doors were also covered in thick carpet!

I mentioned removing those doors and replacing them with grating, framed perf metal or grill cloth. They were afraid it would be too much subwoofer then! By the way their system was setup with aux fed subs, I did try to explain it.