Sound & Communications October 20, 2008 Issue

when Doc began meandering ina counterclockwise fashion aboutthe pool. As we stood anxiouslyawaiting the results of his examination,Doc would stop at intervals,clap his hands, shake his head andresume his stroll. Although thecontractor had brought along somerudimentary, crude test apparatus,none was put to use. Within thespace of perhaps 10 minutes, Docrejoined us.At that point, the city’s chief engineer,as the owner’s representative,uttered the unfortunate phrase,“Well, Doctor Boner, what do yousuggest?” Doc shook his head ofbushy grey hair and sardonicallyresponded, “Fill the damn place fullof hay.” At which point, he scoopedup his briefcase and departed.Who paid for the good doctor’stravel and examination was nevermade clear; however, I suspect thePhillips/Augsberger/Dick consortiumabsorbed the costs. Aftera lengthy, drawn-out examinationof the contract documents, it wasdetermined that the sound contractorhad abided by the documentsand had provided a system thatwas fully within the scope of thespecifications. They were off thehook and were paid eventually. Intoday’s more litigious society, thearchitect’s and engineer’s “errorand omission insurance” probablywould have been more closelyexamined.All of this activity had not setaside the abiding factor that theOlympic Trials were within daysof commencing. The architectsand consulting engineers seemedinclined to ignore the obvious problemswith the sound system andadopted the attitude that the audiencemight ignore the fact that theycouldn’t hear and be be-smittenwith the visual aspects of the presentation.Those of us in the CityEngineering Department thoughtotherwise, and realized that thewoefully, completely unintelligiblesound system would be a disgraceto the city.At Lockard’s suggestion, a quantityof small EV column loudspeakerswas procured from KT Electronics,installed at about eight feet abovethe rear seat levels around the perimeterof the room behind the audiencebleachers and slanted slightlydownward. The units were wiredin place by employees of the RadioDepartment. The overhead pointeddownwardEV CDP horns were abandoned;the underwater UniversityUW-30 loudspeakers were retainedand the solution saved the day. I canstill recall Paul McIntosh, a RadioDepartment employee, donning hisswimsuit and paddling underwaterto check the operation of the underwaterspeakers. The solution wasn’tparticularly architecturally pretty,but it proved effective.To the best of my knowledge, nofactual measurements were evermade of the system. As was commonfor the era, if it worked, count yourblessings, and for heaven’s sake,never kick a sleeping dog! nOctober 2008 43