For more than 25 years, the Comedy Club Stardome, Birmingham, Alabama, US has offered guests some of the biggest names in comedy inside its tiered, dinner theatre style space. After years of inadequate audio systems, the venue opted to upgrade with a new Renkus-Heinz VARIA modular point source array. The room itself posed some acoustical issues for Birmingham-based integrator Media Visions, as team member Patrick Sobers explained: “It’s a fan-shaped room, with dinner theater style table seating on tiered rows. But the front section is almost at orchestra pit level; you don’t get to stage height until the third or fourth row.” With a throw to the last row of around 60ft, the space required a sound system that could be shaped to create the custom coverage the room needed. Media Visions recommended the Renkus-Heinz VARIA modular point source array. The installed system comprises left and right arrays, each with a single VAX101-15 and VAX101-22 cabinet. Each array is topped with a VAX15S subwoofer. “The top box has a variable 60º to 90º coverage, and the bottom one goes from 90º to 120º,” said Sobers. Additional front fill is provided by a pair of Renkus-Heinz CFX41 compact coaxial speakers, with CFX81 8in cabinets covering rear delay and side fills. Power is from Lab Gruppen amps, with a Biamp Nexia handling system DSP, while a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 digital console handles Front of House duties. “They’ve struggled for several years with systems that didn’t really meet their needs,” commented Sobers. “VARIA enabled us to design a system that delivers consistent, full range coverage and great intelligibility to the entire room.”
