Renkus-Heinz rows back on reverb in Henley
- Details
The venue’s arch-roofed, second-floor main hall is a highly reverberant space - in fact even by heritage listed building standards, the acoustics are challenging. Existing acoustic panelling in the hall had been supplemented with additional provision but its beneficial effects were still rather limited.
The audio system in situ was not only outdated and inadequate but constituted something of a black box eyesore amongst such opulent surroundings. Whilst it was of fundamental importance that the audio in the room was vastly improved, a further consideration was that any new system should, as far as possible, complement the aesthetic of the space. Other requirements included a suitable DSP control system with external inputs for visiting sound desks or media players, as well as two channels of handheld wireless microphone provision.
Town Clerk and Janet Wheeler appointed Audiotek Ltd as consultants and the company arranged a number of onsite demonstrations to compare the potential of different systems to overcome the challenge.
Audiotek put the project out to competitive tender specifying Renkus-Heinz Iconyx speakers and Henley Theatre Services won the contract to install the system and in turn, consulted with POLAR over a number of aspects of the work.
Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC16 speakers are beam-steerable, sophisticated, compact, powerful and discreet units which allow up to eight steerable audio beams to be individually shaped and aimed to tailor performance for the requirements of a specific space.
Two IC 16-RD speakers in white were placed at the front of the hall with a pair of (removable) PN212 subs mounted on the stage. The sleek profile of the speakers allowed them to blend into their surroundings, delivering a much-improved aesthetic in comparison to the previous system.
A Biamp TesiraFORTE DAN AI digital audio server with 12 analogue inputs, eight analogue outputs and Dante digital audio was installed to control all audio processing, including signal routing, mixing, filtering, eq and delay.
A wall-mounted Biamp TEC-1s controls the system, which supports external sources such as visiting mixing desk, tablet and media player, as well as two channels of wireless microphone provision. This came in the shape of a beyerdynamic TG500 wireless system with dual receiver and two TG500H-D transmitters with TG V50 dynamic capsules.
Reg Berry, projects and sales director at Henley Theatre Services comments, “The new system is excellent and the client is really pleased, both from an operational point of view and in terms of audio quality - the new systems have really improved things beyond all recognition. POLAR was a great help during the project, offering telephone support, product demonstrations and regular consultation throughout.”
Mark Bromfield, business development manager at POLAR Integrated Solutions adds, “It was a pleasure to work with Reg and his team at Henley. In what is a sensitive, heritage space they delivered a thoroughly professional service from start to finish. Our technical support engineer, Jason Spooner, who commissioned the system, was hugely impressed by their work, observing that his job had been made much easier by the installer’s careful attention to detail.”
(Jim Evans)
