University of Arkansas's Randal Tyson Track Center Ups Its Audio Game Busy track and field venue switches to distributed sound system By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, February 11, 2021 - 9:42 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Football, basketball, and baseball have all had their inflection points when it comes to venue sound, with professional and collegiate stadiums and arenas having largely made the jump from basic horn-loaded systems to something closer to concert-grade audio. Track and field venues, not so much.
At the University of Arkansas, however, that is changing.
Indoor track and field venues are not exactly renowned for having great sound, concedes Justin Maland, associate athletics director, capital projects, University of Arkansas, home to college football's legendary Razorbacks and their Frank Broyles Field at the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Randal Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas features a distributed sound system for acoustic efficiency.
But Maland also has the Randal Tyson Track Center in his 20-venue campus portfolio in Fayetteville. Considered one of the world's premier indoor track and field venues, the 5,500-seat, 200-meter/60-degree banked indoor track has hosted nearly two-thirds of all current NCAA Championship meet records and numerous world and U.S. records. And with indoor venues generally shut down by the pandemic, the Tyson Track Center has also taken on some professional track and field events, such as the recent American Track League's 60- and 400-meter hurdles in January, broadcast live on ESPN and ESPN2.
Track and field venues are starting to get the same kind of sonic attention lavished on other sports venues.
Move to a Distributed Design A nearly year-long renovation of the Tyson Track Center included a new sound system, with a design that shifted from the traditional center-hung horn cluster to a more acoustically efficient distributed system. Designed by consulting firm WJHW, the system features 27 Fulcrum Acoustic FH1566 full-range coaxial horn loudspeakers arrayed in a distributed pattern around the perimeter of the track, providing coverage for the bleacher seating. Eight additional FH1566 speakers were installed along the centerline of the infield and face straight down to provide coverage for the athletes on the track and the broad-jump pits. The system is managed and powered by QSC Q-SYS DSP and amplifiers.
The original sound system featured a center cluster of loudspeakers. Coverage and control from this system were inadequate, resulting in excessive sound energy reflecting off the ceiling and, thus, poor speech intelligibility. The primary goal for a new audio system was to improve coverage and control, thereby improving intelligibility of speech and clarity of music.
We wanted to take the sound to another level, for the fans and for the athletes, says Maland, adding that improving the inside-sound quality will have a beneficial knock-on effect for the broadcast audio. The baseball, football, and basketball venues have all had their sound systems replaced or enhanced in recent years, because the fans have come to expect better sound for sports. Now it's track and field's turn, finally.
WJHW System Designer Kevin Day considers the broadband pattern control from the FH1566 the right choice for the direct coverage sought with this project. EASE software modeling assisted with selection of correct horn patterns and location/orientation of the loudspeakers, essential to achieving proper coverage and intelligibility.
Fulcrum Acoustic loudspeakers arrayed around the perimeter of the track at Randal Track Center provide coverage for the bleacher seating.
If it looks good in EASE, he says, we know it will sound great in the field. The loudspeakers' compact size, he notes, provides a clean aesthetic without interfering with sight lines from the elevated viewing positions along the side.
Maland acknowledges that track and field has trailed other sports when it comes to venue technologies, including sound, but has benefited from the significant advances in those technologies.
The designers were able to come into an empty, quiet space - per NCAA COVID rules, no fans are yet allowed at these events - and tune the system so that it sounds amazing even with no one inside, he says. Once fans are allowed in, it'll sound even better because the system coverage keeps the PA's sonic energy off the highly reverberant metal sides and roof of the building.
In the meantime, Maland says, the venue has experimented with pumping some artificial crowd noise into the PA system to help energize the athletes, something that has also been done at other campus sports venues.
It's all about creating the right atmosphere for everyone, he says. Track and field maybe was at a disadvantage for that in the past. Not anymore, not here.
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
University of Arkansas's Randal Tyson Track Center Ups Its Audio Game Busy track and field venue switches to distributed sound system By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
