Maverick's station platform.

I have been to the point 3 times since they opened and have noticed something a little strange. They have been using a loud speaker or a portable mike and a single speaker instead of the over head system. Just wondering whats going on with that. Its been 3 weeks in a row now that i have noticed that. any one know whats up?

I noticed it this weekend and just figured the PA system was somehow broken, but there shouldn't be that much to it that it would take weeks to fix so I have no idea.

Could be something thats broken or it could just be that the ride op likes using the megaphone.

Thats odd. When i was there on Memorial day weeend, they were using the over the head michrophone! :)

Our speakers blew and we are still waiting for the replacements that tech services supposedly ordered opening weekend.
But the hand held mic provides us with hours of entertainment...

Mismatched and over-driven speakers I think are a Cedar Fair requirement. It blows my mind (and their speakers) that people can't figure out that distortion and buzzing means you're driving the speaker louder than it was intended to go, or the wattage is too high for the speaker. I remember a game stand at Dorney that sounded like the speakers had been ripped and soaked in acid. I hear them at various places on various midways at CP as well, especially on ride systems.

Why managers don't walk the park and say, "That doesn't sound right," is beyond me.

I think this all goes back to attention to detail and that is something CP really lacks. Common sense should tell you if it doesn't look right or sound right, there is a problem and lets address it. I see that all to often, but then again, I look for those things since I am in a customer service type work environment myself.

I don't know how many times I mentioned to Tech Services that the speakers at Dodgem and Matterhorn are distorting horribly and that they really need to do something about it. It was especially bad trying to spiel with the mic, as my voice (or anyone else's on my crew) was distorted almost to the point of sounding like the teacher talking to Lucy in an episode of Peanuts. Another set of speakers in that area of the midway that are also really bad are the same kind of box speakers that are hanging on Sky Ride west's station. It would also be great if they would delay-adjust the speakers in that middle section of the park. The mix of music from the MF and Wildcat area, TTD and PT, and then right there around the Sky Ride station make for one incredibly jumbled delay mix. Its almost like they set it up to be a very badly timed musical cannon.

On the speakers on Dodgem, I think its an issue of the line level being pushed to the speakers through some crappy wiring in addition to it ultimately being too high of a level. I checked out the receiver the day before I decided to stay after a few hours to clean cars and established that I had the proper cables to hook up my iPod for those few hours (thankfully just a simple RCA hookup was all). I messed around with adjusting some stuff on the receiver while adjusting the output level on my iPod and found a nice compromise where I wasn't getting too much distortion. The distortion I was getting was because of the direct wiring and the damage the speakers already had. So yeah, I think in most cases, the issue is two-fold. The wires they use are probably not a good guage for what they're pushing, and then they are pushing way too much from the receiver. Its no wonder my receiver at Dodgem went dead in early August last year and had to be replaced.

Wow. A multi-million dollar company can afford to build these huge record breaking coasters but cant get afford to use state of the art sound systems? Just shows that Cedar Fair is not the sharpest tool in the shed....

It's not that they're incapable of getting right. The sound systems in Wicked Twister and Dragster seem OK. Skyhawk and Maverick seemed OK too.

They're mostly good with the new sound around the Frontier Trail as well, used for the Starlight Experience. The one thing I'm critical about there is that they have a handful of really loud speakers instead of more less loud speakers, so the coverage isn't very consistent. But considering that audio is bounced through tech services at the front of the park and then back to the trail (for emergency announcements and what not), it shows they can get it right.

And I was going to mention the example of the speakers hanging off the Skyride station. Just nasty sounding.

Those horrible box speakers need to die and be replaced with some nice outdoor EVID series EV speakers. Of course, there are some JBLs I wouldn't be opposed to either. The small ones in the Maverick line (original WWL line area) are decent enough as well, but I don't recall what kind they are. Regardless, those sad excuse square speakers need to go ASAP. I know Matterhorn and Dodgem use them, and I would bet they're also on Super Himalaya as well. The way they have pushed those speakers makes them useless for spieling, and almost as bad for general music use.

The actual equipment at TTD isn't bad at all, but once again, I feel they are driving them way too high (probably because they don't have enough to provide good coverage at the proper lower level). I can hear the overdrive distortion on the ground speakers along the launch especially. The two monster speakers at either end of the line, while extremely powerful, still don't adequately serve the line. And then the effects speaker on the other side of the wooden wall...there has got to be a better way to serve up those sound effects, or at least move the speaker off from the wall so that if you're standing in line you aren't left deaf for the next 20 minutes.