Affectionately known as “Death Valley’ for the fate the visiting team so often
meets, Louisiana State University’s 102,000-seat Tiger Stadium has been running a
Danley Sound Labs sound reinforcement system for the past two seasons. Notable
for the massive output of its Danley Jericho Horns, which successfully compete with
the legendary roar of Tiger fans, the system is also remarkable for its clarity and
musicality. With enthusiastic support from fans, staff, and administration, Terrance
Bold, LSU’s assistant director of facilities and grounds, has subsequently made it his
mission to bring all of LSU’s other athletic facilities up to the same standard. To
date, LSU has installed Danley systems at its softball field, indoor track, swimming
facility, and indoor and outdoor tennis facilities, and Bold is slated to place another
Danley system in LSU’s gymnastics facility very soon. For most of those new
systems, Bold also upgraded the amplifiers and processors to Ashly Audio, citing
their proven 24/7 reliability.

“I want every facility at LSU to be a miniature version of Tiger Stadium,’ Bold said.
“Our fans leave the stadium feeling great – assuming the Tigers won.’ Bold’s
background is in audio engineering and live mixing, and he’s the guy behind the
console for all LSU home football and basketball games. Moreover, he’s a
passionate audiophile who wants LSU fans to get the same kick out of their listening
experience on game day that he gets listening to his tweaked hi-fi at home. Richard
Hale, president of local A/V integration firm Sound Advice, and various members of
the Danley team have assisted Bold in his quest to redo LSU in the sonic image of
Tiger Stadium.

Although some budget constraints necessitated the reuse of existing amplifiers and
processors, Bold is taking every possible opportunity to put Ashly KLR-Series
amplifiers and ne24.24M modular-output processors behind the new Danley
loudspeakers and subwoofers.

LSU’s brand new tennis facility features six indoor and twelve outdoor courts with
seating for 550 fans. Bold jumped at the opportunity to outfit it with Danley
loudspeakers and Ashly amplifiers and processors. Indoors, he placed three
clusters, each composed of a Danley OS-115 subwoofer above two Danley OS-90
loudspeakers, equally spaced along the east wall. Outdoors, he placed a total of
eight OS-115s and eight OS-90s from light poles on the centre aisle between two
rows of tennis courts.

Bold pulled out underperforming systems in other existing venues and replaced
them with Danley systems. LSU’s softball facility chucked thirty-two loudspeakers in
favour of two Danley OS-90s, which deliver significantly greater total output with
greater clarity. The indoor track uses a centre cluster of four Danley OS-80s along
with existing subwoofers and new Ashly amplifiers, and the improvement to
intelligibility is obvious. LSU’s indoor swimming complex now uses six Danley OS-
90s, new Ashly amplifiers, and, given the room’s impossible low-end reverberation,
no subwoofers. In the near future, Bold will replace the sound system in the
gymnastics facility with four Danley SBH-20LF full-range loudspeakers and two TH-
118 subwoofers, along with new Ashly KLR-Series amplifiers.

One might guess that Bold’s mission would be resisted by his necessarily budget-
minded higher-ups, but satisfaction with LSU’s growing Danley sound has been so
thorough that everyone is pushing to find a way to keep the momentum going. “No
one is complaining because each new Danley and Ashly system is a complete
knockout,’ he said. “I showed one of the new systems to our board of supervisors
and they left the demo giving me high-fives.’