When the old public address system, operating in the hostile environment of Goodwood Racecourse’s Parade Ring & Winners Enclosure, finally gave up, RaceTech’s Audio Systems Engineer, Robin Dibble knew he had the answer. Needing a weather-resistant yet aesthetic, reliable loudspeaker, with a white finish to match the railings, he replaced the system with 16 JBL Control 28WT’s — pole-mounted in pairs behind the railings.
The 100V line loudspeaker conforms to Mil Spec 810 for humidity, salt spray, temperature and UV and carries a IEC 529 IP-X4 splashproof rating — perfect attributes for this type of installation.
“The loudspeakers also had to be easily demountable for the winter off-season,” said Robin, “and again the Control 28’s were ideal — as they remove with a single Allen bolt.”
RaceTech was originally set up to provide technical support for horseracing, and is currently responsible for the provision and operation of photofinish, OB facilities, camera patrol, race timing, public address and radio communications across many of the UK’s racecourses. The company also supplies closed-circuit television coverage, provides racecourse cable installations, and feeds pictures to other broadcasting concerns. This year has also seen RaceTech broaden its horizons outside of the racing world, bringing 50 years of experience to the installation marketplace.
Home to the famous ‘Glorious Goodwood’ horse racing festival, Goodwood racecourse has turned to RaceTech for all of its comms solutions, and in this instance Robin Dibble knew he could trust the reliability and pedigree of JBL to perform in the oval-shaped interview enclosure, where the PA takes a separate feed from that of the grandstand.
“This is the first time I have used the Control 28 in this type of application and they are just right for the job — high quality matched with high intelligibility. They are very pleasing to listen to, and in fact we’ve had no end of comments from both horse-racing professionals and race goers about how good the sound is.”
The Control 28 readily accepts a variety of paints and finishes to match any décor and the unique InvisiBall mounting hardware makes short work of permanent installation — adding the benefit of vertical rotation of up to 37° off-axis and horizontal rotation of up to 44° off-axis.
And with the inherent bracket and plate mounting kit, Robin Dibble says that installation couldn’t have been simpler.
