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Renkus-Heinz modernizes sound at Toronto’s Convocation Hall

The University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall is a historic venue with a unique circular design. It hosts the annual convocation ceremonies and serves as the University’s primary venue for academic and social functions due to its seating capacity of over 1,700. Plagued by challenging acoustics, the hall’s reflective surfaces introduced significant complications, particularly for speech intelligibility.

The previous sound system in Convocation Hall, an aging column array, was no longer effective - lacking the clarity needed for speech reinforcement in such a large, reverberant space. Renkus-Heinz was identified as a choice to tackle these challenges, particularly their Iconyx line of loudspeakers, known for their advanced beam-steering technology.

“The architecture of the room creates multiple reflections and delayed arrival times, complicating the listening experience”, explains John Busza, systems designer at Global USS, the project’s integrator. “We needed a speaker solution that not only provided high intelligibility but also utilized the existing cabling and infrastructure.”

As Convocation Hall is a heritage building, any new equipment also had to blend seamlessly with its historical interior. “Renkus-Heinz’ Iconyx speakers can be custom color-matched, which we did for this project”, notes Busza. “Architects and interior designers often don’t want the speakers to be seen at all, and with Iconyx, that’s possible.”

For the Convocation Hall project, two Iconyx IC32 arrays were installed, positioned about twelve feet above the stage. Each array contains 32 custom 4-inch coaxial drivers, powered by 32 separate amplifier channels, all controlled through advanced digital signal processing (DSP). This setup allows for precise steering of sound to specific areas of the hall.

“The IC32s allow us to target specific areas, such as the main floor or the two balcony levels, without overpowering the room”, says system commissioner Arthur Skudra, who worked alongside Global USS on the project. “This precise control is key in a reverberant environment like Convocation Hall, where too much sound energy can create more problems.”

While the primary use of the Iconyx system is for spoken-word presentations, the system is also capable of providing audio for musical performances and multimedia presentations. The Iconyx IC32 arrays were integrated with Dante digital audio networking.

According to Busza, Contact Distribution, Renkus-Heinz’s local distributor, turned out to be helpful in the course of this project as well: “The Contact team was always there to support us, from design to install planning and commissioning”, he says concludes.

(Photos: Renkus-Heinz/Global USS/University of Toronto)

www.renkus-heinz.com

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