David Groom Sound extends network coverage at the world famous Grand National racecourse.

Home of the iconic Grand National, the world’s most famous steeplechase, Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool is well-known right across the globe.

One of 15 Jockey Club racecourses, the facility recently underwent a sound system upgrade, with its long term contractor, Wrexham-based David Groom Sound, specifying a matched system from the HARMAN brand portfolio.

Following the major £32m redevelopment in 2006 which included a new weighing room and two grandstands, the previously temporary PA became a permanent feature, and several BSS Soundweb BLU-80 [DSP’s] and BLU-16s were introduced to control the system and David Groom took on responsibility for site wide control.

“Aintree is always looking to improve the customer experience and this includes the public address,” he reports. And so his company has now upgraded the original BLU-80s with new generation BLU-806s, at the same time installing BLU-100s for additional I/O capability — allowing full site paging via touch screen — along with Crown DCiN DriveCore multi-channel network amplifiers. The interface was also ported from London Architect to Audio Architect and expanded to include the additional control capabilities and new areas.

The main amplifier rack is located in the Broadcast Office, which also houses a BLU-806 and BLU-100. This links, via Layer-2 networks over fibre, to two other grandstands on site. Explains David Groom, “Each grandstand has a Dante fibre and a HiQnet fibre, and also redundant fibres respectively. The amplifiers are all connected over BLU link, giving rock solid audio transport and redundancy throughout the system.”

He explained the reasons behind this solution. “The control of the sound system is becoming more and more complex, and the new BLU-806 incorporates all the zoned paging and override system, therefore reducing the required rack space which previously housed other dedicated paging. In addition, the BLU-806 contains a faster processor, which is more designed for the requirements of such a complex system.

“The ability to connect the new amplifiers over BLU link allows us to have complete control over every parameter available to us. We can monitor the outputs and change settings quickly and easily … all from within Soundweb.”

The Crown amplifiers had been an obvious choice as 4 x 600W amplifiers occupy just 2U of race space. “Jockey Club Racecourses are constantly striving to reduce their impact on the environment, and the DCiN series has an extremely low power consumption when in standby. The amplifiers run much cooler than their predecessors.

“The seamless integration with Soundweb made them the obvious choice for us. It’s very useful having everything we need spread over two screens; we can access all amplifier and control information very quickly.”

From BSS and Crown David Groom Sound turned to another flagship HARMAN brand, in JBL. After using the stadium specific AWC series at both Haydock Park and Chester Racecourse they had no hesitation in installing 27 AWC series loudspeakers to improve coverage around the parade ring and winners enclosure at Aintree. Assessing their value, Groom says, “They are very compact and have exceptional clarity for both speech and music. In addition, the heavy-duty mounting bracket, used in conjunction with a custom floodlight mounting bracket, allows exact positioning.

“Race-goers now expect more and more from the PA system, with horns and smaller cabinets becoming less acceptable. We also wanted the parade ring and winners enclosure to have class leading sound quality to match people’s expectations of a day out at Aintree.”

But different areas of the Racecourse require different sound feeds, and with numerous mic and line level inputs, as well as integration with both radio and TV broadcasters, the installers deployed a Soundcraft Si impact mixing console, knowing that a digital desk would occupy much less space and have much more processing power.

“Especially during the Grand National Festival, time can be very tight with lots of demand on the broadcast office. Being able to send a new custom mix, pre/post fade, have it labelled on the mixer and have it sent out of the broadcast office again in seconds is very valuable,” says the installer. “We have halved our outboard equipment and the broadcast office looks much tidier. The Impact is a powerful but simple mixer to use, and this is important because it allows Aintree staff to use the PA system to some extent when we are not on site.”

Audio feeds are exchanged with ITV Racing, Racetech (For Racing UK and other broadcasters), local racecourse CCTV production and various radio stations.

Stated Carl Pastor, Operations Manager, Aintree Racecourse,“Given that customer experience and expectation levels have now risen to new heights Aintree Racecourse embarked on a journey in 2016 to improve its on-course sound amplification to the thousands that attend on each day of the festival in April.

“The racecourse entrusted David Groom of DGS to work with his trusted suppliers to go about reinforcing the site’s current capabilities as well as making some radical changes in technology to the sound systems in our broadcast office.

“In 2017 we went into the Grand National with some fantastic feedback around the quality and clarity of the system with only a few minor changes to make for the 2018 Grand National when 600 million tuned in.

“Overall we are delighted with the way the system has operated over these past two years and now have the base to build on with a far more robust and technically enhanced Soundweb system.”

Finally, David Groom paid credit to Sound Technology, UK and Ireland distributors of the HARMAN brands. “The support and training they provided has been excellent, with our own staff now confident in making changes and additions to the design files.”