External speakers

An external speaker, in competitive swimming, is any loudspeaker driven by a start system beyond the speaker built into the start system itself. The most numerous type is the lane speaker, a small loudspeaker mounted under or inside each starting block that reproduces the starter’s commands, the start tone, and any false-start recall tone for the swimmer in that lane. A start system drives one speaker at each block from a common circuit so that every athlete hears the commands and the starting signal at the same instant. The reason for a speaker at each block rather than a single poolside horn, and the governing-body rules that require it, are covered in the start-systems overview; this section describes the speaker hardware itself and catalogs the models sold by each manufacturer.

Lane speakers are also called under-block speakers, after their most common mounting position on the foot or front face of the block, or block speakers. Some manufacturers mount the speaker inside the block instead.

Types of external speaker¶

Start systems drive several kinds of speaker, usually on separate circuits:

• Under-block lane speaker: a small horn behind each block, one per lane, wired through a multi-lane cable harness. A deck-wired start system typically drives up to ten or twelve of them on one circuit.
• In-block lane speaker: the same role filled by a loudspeaker fitted inside the starting block, connected through the block’s cable access.
• Auxiliary or backstroke speaker: a single larger horn, mounted on a backstroke flagpole or beside the start system, that carries the same audio to officials, spectators, and backstroke starters in the water. It is usually driven from a separate output with its own volume control.
• Far-end speaker: a second large speaker placed at the far side of the pool, or wherever the start system’s own speaker does not reach, on a long cable.
• Underwater speaker: a submerged speaker that broadcasts an underwater recall tone and lets a coach address swimmers mid-pool. These are documented with the start systems that drive them.

Most start systems also contain a built-in speaker of their own, typically a 40 watt unit. Whether a given model has one, and its rating, is documented in that start system’s article under start systems; external speakers either replace the built-in speaker at the blocks or extend it across the pool.

How an external speaker works¶

Lane speakers are compact horn loudspeakers built for a wet, corrosive environment: the horn body and mounting base are moulded from impact- and UV-resistant plastic, the fasteners are stainless steel, and the driver diaphragm is moisture-resistant, so the unit tolerates splash, humidity, and pool chemistry.¹ Installers point the horn slightly downward so that water drains out of the bell rather than collecting inside it.² Mounting is to the block itself, to a standard electrical box behind it, or inside the block on designs built for it.¹³

Electrically, a start system must drive many speakers from one amplifier, and manufacturers solve this in one of two ways. One is to use high-impedance speakers, rated at 45 ohms rather than a loudspeaker’s usual 8 ohms, so that a dozen of them wired in parallel on one circuit still present a load an ordinary start-system amplifier can drive.¹⁴ The other is to specify a permissible load window for the amplifier and let the installer combine speakers to land inside it; Swiss Timing’s StartTime amplifier, for example, accepts any speaker combination presenting between 3.2 and 16 ohms.⁵

Products¶

Five manufacturers sell, or have sold, lane speakers for swimming start systems. Each has its own article:

Article	Manufacturer	Lane speaker	OEM horn	Status
Colorado Time Systems	Colorado Time Systems	SP-6/45 (6 W, 45 Ω)	Fourjay 306-45	Current
Daktronics	Daktronics	306-45-54 (DS-1059)	Fourjay 306-45	Current
International Sports Timing	International Sports Timing	SPEAKER6W (6 W), SPKRBLOCK system	Not disclosed	Not in current catalog
Superior Swim Timing	Superior Swim Timing	SST Lane Speaker	Not disclosed	Current
Swiss Timing	Swiss Timing	In-block loudspeaker (3399.600); mobile sets	Not disclosed	Current

Colorado Time Systems and Daktronics sell the same under-block horn under different part numbers: the 306 Series reflex horn made by Fourjay Industries of Dayton, Ohio, a general-purpose paging horn that electronics retailers also stock for public-address use.¹⁴²⁶

International Sports Timing sold an under-block speaker system as an accessory to its SWIMSTART Electronic Start; the product no longer appears in the company’s current catalog.⁷

Superior Swim Timing sells a lane speaker and matching multi-lane harnesses for its Atlantis Swimming Starter System, without publishing electrical ratings or an OEM.⁸

Swiss Timing, whose equipment times major international meets under the Omega brand, fits an internal loudspeaker inside its OSB starting blocks for fixed installations and supplies sets of mobile loudspeakers, positioned near each block, for mobile ones; both are driven by its StartTime V starting device.³⁹

See also¶

• Start systems: the systems that drive external speakers, and the acoustic and governing-body reasons for a speaker at each block
• Relay take-off platforms: the other lane accessory wired into a deck-wired start system, whose speedlights flash with the start
• Timers: the timing console the start system triggers
• Equipment: the equipment reference

References¶

Footnotes¶

1. Fourjay Industries, The Little Big Horn: 6 Watt Reflex Horn Speaker, 306 Series (Form 360-02) (physical and technical specifications; 306-8 and 306-45 impedance options; ABS and stainless construction; mounting to a 3-inch electrical box). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Daktronics, Horn Start HS-200 Owner’s Manual (ED-12935, Rev 17, 17 March 2021) (lane speakers 4J model 306-45-54, installed tilting down to drain; up to ten per start system). ↩ ↩²

3. Swiss Timing, OSB11 Swimming Starting Block datasheet (V3, 03-2019) (internal loudspeaker option, article 3399.600, for fixed wiring; rear access door for cabling; deck plate under each block protects cables, connections, and speaker). ↩ ↩²

4. Colorado Time Systems, Championship Start Instruction Guide (F875 Rev. 202202) (up to twelve 6 W, 45 Ω under-block lane speakers on one circuit; part SP-6/45). ↩ ↩²

5. Swiss Timing, StartTime V User’s Manual (3481.560.02, Version 1.2, March 2018) (external loudspeakers connection: recommended amplifier load between 3.2 and 16 Ω). ↩

6. Parts-Express, Fourjay 306-45 Little Big Horn 45 Ohms (retail listing for the same 45 Ω horn sold as a general paging speaker). ↩

7. International Sports Timing, Under Block Speaker System (archived 18 April 2024) (SKU SPKRBLOCK-6; a speaker under each block; replacement under-block speaker sold separately; absent from IST’s current catalog). ↩

8. SwimNerd, SST Lane Speaker (lane speaker for Superior Swim Timing start systems, installed with the SST lane-speaker harness). ↩

9. Swiss Timing, Swimming Concept installation manual (0017.509.02, Version 4.9, January 2017) (in-deck installations permit installing the lane speakers inside the starting blocks; internal loudspeaker installed inside OSB11 or OSB14; external loudspeaker for mobile cabling). ↩