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Colorado Time Systems SS2 Electronic Start System

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The SS2 Electronic Start System is a discontinued loudspeaker start system for swimming made by Colorado Time Systems (CTS) during the 1990s. It consists of a battery-powered start module with a built-in strobe light, a hand-held starter’s microphone, and one or more loudspeakers. The same speakers carry the starter’s voice, so the system also works as a small public-address system. In CTS’s contemporary System 5 documentation the SS2 is the start system that shipped as standard with the company’s swimming timing packages.12 The deck-wired Championship family and the portable Infinity family later replaced it in the CTS line.

Models and naming

The instruction guide (F503 Rev. 0897, first issued 1993) covers five configurations, which differ only in the speakers supplied with the same start module:1

  • SS2-1 is the base system: the strobe-equipped module, a single 40-watt speaker, a 25-foot microphone, the internal gel-cell battery, and a charger for that battery.
  • SS2-2 pairs a 125-foot cable with a further 40-watt speaker and a kit for mounting it on the backstroke flag poles, which brings a speaker within range of the far lanes.
  • SS2-6, SS2-8, and SS2-10 take the base system and add six, eight, or ten 6-watt under-block speakers. Each count has its own harness: LS40-6, LS40-8, or LS40-10.

The SS2 was the middle member of a series. The System 5 swimming software guide of 1998 lists three families of CTS electronic start system, the SS-1, the SS2, and the LS systems, alongside the ST-15 start-pistol transducer.2 The SS2 manual’s warranty covers the “Model SS-xx Series” start-system modules as a family.1 The name remained in use after the product was discontinued: the current System 6 swimming software guide still gives “a CTS Infinity, ChampStart or SS-2” as its examples of loudspeaker start systems.3

CTS’s current power-supply compatibility list names two legacy start systems, SS-01 and SS-02, without describing them. The Championship Start System (CHAMP-SSM) article reads these as labels for the pre-2005 Championship generation, but the SS-1/SS2 series documented here is another plausible referent. The sources do not settle it. The numbering matches the SS2 era, but the listed power supply suits start systems that run from an external supply, and the SS2 instead uses a dedicated DC battery charger and cannot operate while charging.41 An archived CTS product page of December 2003 strengthens the Championship reading, since it advertises that system as usable either from a 110 volt supply in a fixed position or from its battery as a portable one, which is the capability the SS2 lacks.5 That is corroboration rather than proof, because a compatibility list may name a charger loosely.

Archived copies of Colorado Time Systems’ own site bracket the product’s withdrawal. By November 2001 the company’s aquatic listing offered the Infinity and no longer showed the SS2, yet its manuals index of March 2003 still carried SS2 documentation, and only the Infinity and the SS2 had start-system manuals at that date.67 The SS2 was therefore out of the catalogue while remaining a supported product. A CTS history page of the same period counts four generations of electronic horn start by 2001, though it does not name them, so the place of the SS2 in that sequence is not established.8

Sources outside Colorado Time Systems are almost silent on the SS2. No dealer catalogue listed it: the earliest archived Recreonics page for CTS start systems, from 2003, sells the Infinity alone. That page is still useful, because it describes the Infinity in the SS2’s own accessory vocabulary, down to the 40-watt corrosion-resistant speaker, the second speaker on a 125-foot cable for the far lane, the 6-watt under-block speakers and the internal gel-cell battery. The accessory line therefore carried forward intact.9 Colorado Time Systems holds patents on its touchpad and on the textured surface later sold as AquaGrip, but none covering a start system, a starting signal or a false-start recall, so the SS2’s design appears never to have been patented.1011 A Colorado Time Systems advertisement in the September 1992 issue of Swimming World and Junior Swimmer places the company in the trade press during the SS2’s production life, and gives its Loveland, Colorado address five years before the F503 manual does. The advertisement names no product, and its description of the firm as “the leader in precision sport timing” is the company’s own.12

Design and hardware

The start module is an open-frame unit 13.25 in high, 18 in wide, and 4 in deep, and it weighs 17 lb. Hook-and-loop straps hold a sliding polycarbonate weather cover over its circuit board, and every connection lands directly on that board: two identical speaker jacks, three identical microphone jacks, two timer-start outputs, a backup button-start connector, and the strobe, battery, and recharge connectors. A single volume control on the board sets the public-address level; the start and recall tones always sound at full volume. The rear panel carries a moulded rest that the microphone hangs on when it is not in use. The module sits on a tabletop or mounts through a standard 1/4-20 tripod bracket or an optional wall-mount kit; the manual’s setup chapter names the optional tripod TR-1 while its specifications page names the TR-2, and it does not explain the difference.1

The module itself contains no built-in speaker: every speaker plugs into one of the two speaker jacks on the circuit board. The base speaker is a reflex design rated at 40 watts into 8 ohms and built to resist moisture and corrosion; the multi-lane configurations use 6-watt under-block speakers on an LS40 cable harness, and the system can be expanded to a total of 20 speakers and three microphones. Because starting blocks vary, CTS leaves permanent mounting of the speakers to the customer.1

Power comes from an internal 12 VDC rechargeable gel-cell battery. CTS presents that as a safety decision, since no mains supply then has to reach the deck. The external charger (115 VAC, three-prong grounded) charges the battery only with the module switched off, and the SS2 does not operate while charging; CTS therefore advises recharging overnight after each day’s use. A full charge runs the system for one to two days of typical use, and heavy public-address use shortens that; left unused, the battery drains by roughly a fifth over a two- to three-month period. The optional BP-3 external battery pack matches the internal battery’s capacity and extends operating time, but cannot recharge the internal battery. A 4 A automotive blade fuse protects the battery circuit.1

Operation

The starter’s microphone has a push-to-talk switch on its side and a start button on top. Pressing push-to-talk alone carries the starter’s voice to the speakers as a public-address system. Holding push-to-talk and pressing the start button fires the start: a 0.5-second dual-tone blast, a simultaneous strobe flash, and a start pulse to the timer. Pressing the start button a second time within five seconds signals a false-start recall, a repeating dual tone; after five seconds the module resets and accepts another start. With more than one microphone connected, a recall fails if two starters press their buttons at the same time, so the manual directs that one starter be designated to control recalls.1

The camera-type strobe flashes automatically with every start pulse and needs about 30 seconds between flashes to recharge; a start given before the strobe circuit has recharged sounds the tone without a flash. The manual tells anyone timing by hand to watch for the flash rather than listen for the tone: sound takes a measurable time to cross the deck, so a watch started on the tone runs late by an amount that grows with distance from the nearest speaker. Research on sprint starts has measured that penalty directly: reaction times lengthen the farther a competitor sits from the source of the sound.13 CTS notes a second benefit, that a visible signal serves swimmers with a hearing impairment; see the start-systems overview for the governing-body rules behind this practice.1 A weaker or longer start tone indicates a low battery.1

Both the tone and the flash are required by rule. USA Swimming’s rule on loudspeaker start systems obliges a meet to provide an electronic device that generates both the starting and the recall signal. The same device must fire a strobe, or some comparable visual signal, placed about 15 feet down the pool from the starting end on whichever side the starter occupies, so that hand timers and swimmers who cannot hear the tone still get the start. The rule leaves the speakers themselves to the installer, and allows them under or beside each block, between alternate blocks, along the sides, or behind the blocks, provided the sound reaches every lane evenhandedly.14 USA Swimming prefers a system that meets that rule as the starting device.14

Connections

The SS2 has two timer-start outputs on its circuit board: a normally-open (N.O.) output used by all CTS timers, such as the System 5 Sports Timer, and a normally-closed (N.C.) output for other manufacturers’ timers. The later Championship dropped the built-in N.C. output, which on that system requires factory modification.115 The start connection runs through a start jumper cable, model SJ-25 (25-foot) or SJ-50M (50-metre), to the timer’s cable harness or to an in-deck wiring plate; in System 5 installations it plugs into the start connector of the touchpad-and-button-A cable harness.12 Should the microphone’s start button fail, an optional hand-held pushbutton wired to the button-start connector can fire the start instead.1

The manual specifies placing the module at least 10 feet (3 m) from the pool edge, and choosing a spot where the strobe stays in view of the officials and the crowd.1

Specifications

Dimensions (H × W × D)13.25 × 18 × 4 in (33 × 45 × 10 cm)
Weight17 lb (7.7 kg)
PowerInternal 12 VDC gel-cell battery; 115 VAC external charger
ChargingModule must be off; does not operate while charging
Battery lifeOne to two days typical; about 20% self-discharge in 2 to 3 months idle
FuseAutomotive blade, 4 A
Built-in speakerNone; speakers connect to the two board jacks
Speakers1 or 2 × 40 W, 8 Ω reflex, or 6/8/10 × 6 W under-block; expandable to 20
MicrophonesUp to 3, on identical interchangeable jacks
Start outputsNormally-open (CTS timers) and normally-closed (other timers)
Start tone0.5 s dual-tone blast with simultaneous strobe flash
RecallRepeating dual tone, within 5 s of the start pulse
StrobeCamera strobe, about 30 s recharge between flashes
MountingTabletop, 1/4-20 tripod bracket, or wall-mount kit

Part numbers and accessories

  • SS2-1 / SS2-2 / SS2-6 / SS2-8 / SS2-10, the five sold configurations.1
  • LS40-6 / -8 / -10, lane-speaker cable harness; the number is the lane count. The naming continues on the later Championship, which uses LS40-6 through LS40-12.115
  • SP-125, an extra 40 W speaker on a 125-foot lead, used to reach the far lanes; SMK-1, the backstroke-flag mounting kit that carries it.1
  • M-50 / M-100 / M-200, replacement microphones; the number is the cable length in feet.1
  • SJ-25 / SJ-50M, start jumper cable to the timer (25 ft or 50 m).1
  • BP-3, external battery pack.1
  • TR-1 / TR-2, optional tripod (the manual names both); wall-mount kit.1
  • Factory replacement parts: circuit board, speakers, cables, strobe, battery, battery charger, and front panel.1

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. Colorado Time Systems, Electronic Start System Model SS2 Instruction Guide (F503 Rev. 0897, ©1993), hosted on the CTS Spanish-language legacy site. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22

  2. Colorado Time Systems, Swimming 5 for the System 5 Sports Timer user guide (F506, Rev. 0698), hardware-setup chapter (the SS2 as the standard package start system) and start-system appendix (the SS-1/SS2/LS series). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Colorado Time Systems, Swimming 6 for the System 6 Sports Timer user guide (F890), timing-corrections section (“a CTS Infinity, ChampStart or SS-2”). ↩

  4. Colorado Time Systems shop, Start System Power Supply (R-920-059), compatibility list covering SS/SSF/WSS/WSSF, INF-SSM/INF-SSMF, and legacy SS-01/SS-02. ↩

  5. Colorado Time Systems, Championship Start System (archived 2 December 2003), fixed 110 V or portable battery operation. ↩

  6. Colorado Time Systems, Aquatic products (archived 17 November 2001), the Infinity listed and the SS2 absent. ↩

  7. Colorado Time Systems, Manuals (archived 3 March 2003), Infinity and SS2 the only start-system manuals. ↩

  8. Colorado Time Systems, History (archived 17 November 2001), four generations of electronic horn start; founded 1972. ↩

  9. Recreonics, Colorado Time Systems start systems (archived 4 June 2003), the Infinity and its speaker and battery accessories. ↩

  10. US Patent 3,920,940, Pressure actuated switch and method for making same (Colorado Time Systems, filed 1974, issued 1975; the touchpad switch). ↩

  11. US Patent 5,702,799, Slip resistant texture for wet skin contact surfaces (Colorado Time Systems, filed 1995; the texture later sold as AquaGrip). ↩

  12. Colorado Time Systems advertisement, Swimming World and Junior Swimmer, September 1992, p. 68. Issue PDF. ↩

  13. Brown, Kenwell, Maraj and Collins, “Go” Signal Intensity Influences the Sprint Start, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 40(6), 2008 (PMID 18460990). ↩

  14. USA Swimming, 2025 Rulebook, 103.18 Loudspeaker Start System and 101.1.1 (the preferred starting device). ↩ ↩2

  15. Colorado Time Systems, Championship Start Instruction Guide (F875 Rev. 202202). ↩ ↩2

Last updated September 25, 2026.