Before kickoff of each East Carolina University (ECU) football game, Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” is played over the sound system at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The crowd roars and the Pirates take the field. It’s just part of the game day experience for ECU Pirate alumni, fans, and students. It’s appropriate as the stadium dates back to the early 1960’s.

The first football game at Dowdy-Ficklen stadium was played on September 21, 1963. At the time, the facility consisted of a 10,000 seat grandstand. Now, the facility has a capacity of 51,000 including a club level, loge boxes and suites and a new HD video / scoreboard completed in 2019. However, the audio in the facility needed an additional upgrade.

The upgrade completed in summer of 2022 consists of 2 J8-94 loudspeakers for far coverage, 2 J7-95 loudspeakers for near coverage, 1 SH62 loudspeaker for field coverage and 3 SH46 loudspeakers a down fills from the board. In addition, there are 4 BC415 subwoofers in the board all powered by Danley DNA20K4 amplifiers.