Iconyx tackles acoustic challenge
Published: WORSHIP
US: Oklahoma City’s First Christian Church has won much acclaim as an architectural masterpiece, it has also been equally disparaged as an acoustical nightmare. Its concave ceiling and hard surfaces create a tremendously reverberant environment meaning that spoken word intelligibility has long been an ongoing struggle.
‘First Christian Church is by far the most acoustically challenging space I've ever experienced,’ stated Danny Nix, sales and marketing manager at AVL Systems Design, the Oklahoma-based audio video designer-integrator responsible for the church’s new sound system. ‘They had invested a great deal of time and money into several different audio systems over the years, and were pretty much ready to give up on finding a system that would suitably meet their requirements. That's when we presented them with the Renkus-Heinz Iconyx solution.’
‘We realised that any system we considered had to meet certain performance requirements, and still deliver clear and articulate sound to every seat in the house,’ added Marc Pierce, president and owner of AVL Systems Design. ‘We exhaustively studied technical specs and solutions from manufacturers to maintain a balance between quality and value, so our client would receive the best product necessary to accurately meet their needs and also maintain budgetary criteria.’
Mr Pierce, along with AVL's director of engineering, Kenny Kendrick, designed First Christian's new audio system using Iconyx digitally steerable array column loudspeakers from Renkus-Heinz. Two Iconyx IC16-R loudspeakers are surface-mounted high on the walls to either side of the proscenium. The Iconyx steerable beam technology enables sound to be focused downward, away from the domed ceiling and towards the main floor seating area.
‘It's literally the first system that has worked for them,’ said Mr Nix. ‘The difference is like night and day.’
As is often the case, aesthetics prevented AVL from extending cabling to the Iconyx cabinets. The company responded with a highly innovative solution. ‘We are transmitting the signal wirelessly using an AKG in-ear monitor system, routed through the DSP to power the speakers,’ explained Mr Nix. ‘It has worked really well and the end result is exceptional sound quality with no visible wires.’ A custom paint job by Renkus-Heinz further adds to the appearance.
AVL's upgrade for the church also included a video component, installing a pair of Digital Projection E-Vision WXGA projectors with long throw lenses. The projectors fire onto dual Stewart film screens. Two Samsung 400DX-2 46-inch LCD screens and an Analog Way EFD-341 high-resolution video switcher/scaler complete the system.
Mr Nix reports the church is so pleased with the sound quality of its new Iconyx system that it is planning additional upgrades elsewhere on the campus using more Renkus-Heinz gear.