Alton Towers - Park Audio Volumes

[DistortAMG]

If there is a similar topic, I apologise / please merge.

After visiting yesterday, where quite frankly, the park was on top form 100%. I thought a special mention should be given to the park audio and volumes on rides and areas.

All areas and queue lines had the volume of the music sounding great, decent loudness with enough volume to punch above the sound of rides and people, but not to the point where it is too loud in places where it doesn't need to be.

A special mention has to go to Wicker man pre show, always excellent to be fair, the volume in there is loud and it sounds fantastic, lots of bass which combined with the volume, really helps to sell what is being said in the preshow. I do not think this has changed, the volume was always excellent I think.

Another special mention to TCAAM. It was again, loud, in a very good way. That ride with the audio being delivered at the volume it is at, and again the bass levels is perfect for the ride and really helps to sell the story that is being sold. I love the loudness in the garden scene, the bit where the girl is shouting about hide and seek above your head and the massive bass rumbles in what was the old screaming head section. These are standout parts audio wise in a truly fantastic attraction.

A final special mention to Nemesis Reborn station, lots of bass, excellent music and loud volume, which really sells the illusion they are aiming for. This was my first time riding the re done ride, so I cannot comment. Non the less, it sounds brilliant.

After not visiting for over a year, I was really impressed with Alton Towers yesterday in MANY ways, specifically for this topic and as a lover of audio, the audio on park was on point, great volumes, really loud where it needs to be and nice decent volumes of where it doesn't need to be. I cannot remember what it was like before but because I do not remember, it probably did not stand out to me as excellent, yesterday it really was. An amazing day, the audio parkwide helps in making that day amazing, as I suspect it does for many others too.

Does anyone else have anything to say on this? Thankfully, the Roper days are LONG gone and rightly so too. This place brings so much enjoyment to so many people.
There has clearly been in the last year or so, a big focus on getting the audio right and tuning volumes, the work has absolutely paid off as it sounded amazing.

 

[idleross]

In total contrast, the audio quality at Thorpe Park is horrendous. The speakers sound so tinny!

 

[MrNoNumbers]

In total contrast, the audio quality at Thorpe Park is horrendous. The speakers sound so tinny!

Problem is Thorpe spent a crazy amount of money on speakers that are inappropriate for the purpose they serve, along with a horrible installation job with no thought in speaker placement and volume levels. Volume levels at Thorpe constantly vary from barely audible to deafening, and there's seemingly no equalisation or signal processing in the chain leading to those harsh RCF horn tweeters screaming away.

If you stand around near Veggie Box you can hear WWTP, Ghost Train, Inferno, and The Jungle all at once - migraine inducing!

Not looking to make this a 'best speaker brand' game but Alton's collaboration with Ohm/Omega over the years very much shows in the quality of sound. No different to the old days where they directly consulted with Bose, but with the benefit of improved technology and modern prediction mapping. Alton isn't perfect however, X-Sector is a mismash of dying old Bose equipment and random speakers installed more recently.

 

[BenTechy66]

In total contrast, the audio quality at Thorpe Park is horrendous. The speakers sound so tinny!

Incidentally, I was riding Hyperia a month or so after it opened -- one of the speakers in the queue sounded terrible, I looked over and it had blown its cone. Not sure how they managed to do that less than two months after opening, but colour me unimpressed.

 

[djransome]

Is it still the case where if you are outside TCAAM walking towards Forbidden Valley you can hear the consistent rumble of the bass which, if I remember, comes from the dark section where it's just the "skeleton with flames" projection?


The only downsides to the sound, is The Smiler queueline where you get deafened from the loudness and distortion. I would say Oblivion soundtrack has suffered since they switched to the newer speakers. I remember when they had the Bose ones the low end was insane, especially when the sub bass stabs in the soundtrack kicked in. Probably way overdone at the time but it fit with the drum n bass soundtrack used. Not sure which models they had back then, maybe the 802 mk2's? The newer ones now just don't have the low end on them.

As a drum n bass producer / DJ I approved, they looked massive haha.

 

[The Lynch Effect]

I think the park gets a lot of unfair criticism on here sometimes, we were there a few weeks back and it was amazing. The work they have been doing to refresh things is really coming together.

 

[DistortAMG]

Is it still the case where if you are outside TCAAM walking towards Forbidden Valley you can hear the consistent rumble of the bass which, if I remember, comes from the dark section where it's just the "skeleton with flames" projection?


The only downsides to the sound, is The Smiler queueline where you get deafened from the loudness and distortion. I would say Oblivion soundtrack has suffered since they switched to the newer speakers. I remember when they had the Bose ones the low end was insane, especially when the sub bass stabs in the soundtrack kicked in. Probably way overdone at the time but it fit with the drum n bass soundtrack used. Not sure which models they had back then, maybe the 802 mk2's? The newer ones now just don't have the low end on them.

As a drum n bass producer / DJ I approved, they looked massive haha.

The most heavy bass parts in TCAAM come from the 'demonic spirits' scene of the layout below.
The path to FV essentially goes along the bottom of that picture from left to right, so you would more than likely hear the bass from that scene on that path.


Oblivion station used Bose 802's and it had some 502b subwoofers mounted on the walls near where the trains exit to the lift. Those 502b's are what would have produced the sub bass. As the 802's do not give much bass at all on their own. The speaker drivers are no where near big enough. I suspect the new sound system is lacking in the subwoofer department hence the lack of bass, or, it is just turned down. It sounded ok to me the other week, but I was not looking out for it to be fair.

Along side the Bose 151 and 325se (both looked the same, the old style shape for AT) which were probably the most (especially the 151 variants) extensively used models of Bose speakers on park (a select few still exist to these days), they also used Bose 402's in quite a lot of places too. Such as in Duel as jerry rigged replacements for select swing arm monster SFX audio, Hex pre pre show, the 'Welcome to the ancestorial home' part (down firing from the ceiling) in the Octagon and The Flume used a pair of 402's at the entrance. Probably many other places too. The 802, 502b and 402 used Bose' proprietary panaray technology. Which was nothing more than fancy marketing speak from my experience.

They use Ohm for most stuff now, they do have it sounding very good in most places. Which does prove the point it is not so much about the manufacturer, but how you tune the system.

 

[hogofwar]

Does anything use bass cannons ("Acoustic Wave Cannons") anymore, if they even did in the first place?

 

[DistortAMG]

Does anything use bass cannons ("Acoustic Wave Cannons") anymore, if they even did in the first place?

At Alton Towers, no, nothing I am aware of. They may have been used but out of sight to be fair in places such as Hex. Although I *do not think* that was the case.
Nemesis Inferno's station had and has them at Thorpe Park, although not used anymore. They were used as part of the rides long gone dispatch sequence where the lighting changed in time to some music which had some heavy bass rumbles. I remember it quite well from it's opening year.

I have just realised we already have a thread for this sort of thing, one which I have posted in previously. Doh!

Merge perhaps??! - while not identical, very similar. Although it is worth pointing out that one of the reasons this got it's own topic was because this was a very positive thing to mention. In a sea of recent negativity surrounding the park. Something which is quite a positive thing, having it's own topic, makes it standout from the crowd so to speak.

Park Audio, Lighting and Everything Geeky

On TPWW's vlog from Saturday, he shows posts are now in place on the pathway running from the ruins up to where Roller Disco was. This implies permanent lighting to be installed? Probably festoon lighting like what's found on the Katanga Kanyon paths. Lets hope we get some permanent...

towersstreet.com

 

[djtruefitt]

At Alton Towers, no, nothing I am aware of. They may have been used but out of sight to be fair in places such as Hex. Although I *do not think* that was the case.
Nemesis Inferno's station had and has them at Thorpe Park, although not used anymore. They were used as part of the rides long gone dispatch sequence where the lighting changed in time to some music which had some heavy bass rumbles. I remember it quite well from it's opening year.

I have just realised we already have a thread for this sort of thing, one which I have posted in previously. Doh!

Merge perhaps??! - while not identical, very similar. Although it is worth pointing out that one of the reasons this got it's own topic was because this was a very positive thing to mention. In a sea of recent negativity surrounding the park. Something which is quite a positive thing, having it's own topic, makes it standout from the crowd so to speak.

Park Audio, Lighting and Everything Geeky

On TPWW's vlog from Saturday, he shows posts are now in place on the pathway running from the ruins up to where Roller Disco was. This implies permanent lighting to be installed? Probably festoon lighting like what's found on the Katanga Kanyon paths. Lets hope we get some permanent...

towersstreet.com

I believe Hex had some under the stairs in the Octagon, they may be still there but won’t be used I imagine.

Chessie also have some in Tomb Blaster as you go up the lift where the fake broken rock is.

 

[DistortAMG]

Interesting, so there were more than just the ones in Nemesis Inferno then! I always thought there must be, just could never work out precisely where.

 

[djtruefitt]

Interesting, so there were more than just the ones in Nemesis Inferno then! I always thought there must be, just could never work out precisely where.

If you do tomb blaster and shine your guns up in that lift hill rock section you can see it.

 

[DistortAMG]

If you do tomb blaster and shine your guns up in that lift hill rock section you can see it.

I'll be sure to take a look next time I ride. I do love the name "Bass Cannon" I must admit. It has a certain ring to it that I love. "Lad's, lets get the bass cannons out".

I can see why they would use them especially in large places like Tomb Blaster, Hex's Octagon and NI's Station, because from what I remember they did deliver pretty high sound pressure bass at high decibels from a relatively small speaker driver. Which for normal people, that essentially translates to powerful bass. I think other low frequency speaker enclosures do a very good job these days though, TCAAM anyone? But these baby's looked the part, sounded the part and had an awesome name. #bringbackthe(bass)cannons.

 

[djransome]

The most heavy bass parts in TCAAM come from the 'demonic spirits' scene of the layout below.
The path to FV essentially goes along the bottom of that picture from left to right, so you would more than likely hear the bass from that scene on that path.


Oblivion station used Bose 802's and it had some 502b subwoofers mounted on the walls near where the trains exit to the lift. Those 502b's are what would have produced the sub bass. As the 802's do not give much bass at all on their own. The speaker drivers are no where near big enough. I suspect the new sound system is lacking in the subwoofer department hence the lack of bass, or, it is just turned down. It sounded ok to me the other week, but I was not looking out for it to be fair.

Along side the Bose 151 and 325se (both looked the same, the old style shape for AT) which were probably the most (especially the 151 variants) extensively used models of Bose speakers on park (a select few still exist to these days), they also used Bose 402's in quite a lot of places too. Such as in Duel as jerry rigged replacements for select swing arm monster SFX audio, Hex pre pre show, the 'Welcome to the ancestorial home' part (down firing from the ceiling) in the Octagon and The Flume used a pair of 402's at the entrance. Probably many other places too. The 802, 502b and 402 used Bose' proprietary panaray technology. Which was nothing more than fancy marketing speak from my experience.

They use Ohm for most stuff now, they do have it sounding very good in most places. Which does prove the point it is not so much about the manufacturer, but how you tune the system.

That was an excellent read. Thank you for all the nerdy stuff. With Oblivion they must have tuned the old Bose system in a way where the frequency hit of the 808 sub bass in the theme track was just at the right one to really carry across the ride area. Right up my street ❤ When I next go I will have to keep more of an ear out for the sound tuning.