Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×

POLARaudio steers Reading University’s Great Hall to audio clarity

Reading University is a globally renowned institution. Ranked amongst the top 1% of universities in the world, its reputation for teaching, research and enterprise is formidable.

Reading University is a globally renowned institution. Ranked amongst the top 1% of universities in the world, its reputation for teaching, research and enterprise is formidable. The Great Hall, situated on the original London Road campus, is a Grade II listed building which hosts a wide variety of events, not least of which are graduation ceremonies for thousands of students. In response to a growing number of adverse comments in relation to the poor audio quality at such events, the university’s Vice-Chancellor took the decision to improve things.

Having previously enjoyed a successful working relationship with POLARaudio, the university once again sought the company’s advice over the best available solution. The system was primarily to offer voice reinforcement and, on occasions, musical playback in a reverberant space with a high curved ceiling approximately 25m x 15m. The hall’s heritage also demanded that it be as discreet as possible in order to avoid compromising the beautiful interior.

POLARaudio supplied two Renkus Heinz Iconyx IC-24 speakers as the basis of the solution. These digitally steerable line array loudspeakers are controlled via software to create beams of audio which can be directed to give an even coverage of intelligible sound in the most demanding acoustic environments. Just as it is possible to focus the sound on the audience, so too it can be steered away from the hard reflective surfaces of the space (and in this example the cylindrical ceiling) to minimise reverberance.

The IC-24s were deemed to be of the optimum size for the Great Hall, enabling the size of the space to be comfortably overcome whilst preventing excess energy from ‘leaking’ into the ceiling area. Whilst offering superb technical characteristics, the Iconyx speakers discreet aesthetic was also perfect for this beautiful building. POLARaudio was able to arrange for the speakers to be custom-coloured, to further blend in with their surroundings, and being ‘active’ there would be no visible amplifier racks with their attendant heat generation and energy consumption. A Biamp Nexia SP was employed for all signal processing, in conjunction with a Mackie VLZ4 1202 12 channel mixer. All microphones for the system were from the beyerdynamic range.

Additional to the permanent installation of the Iconyx speakers, in order to cater for occasional music playback, a pair of AD-Systems i.Flex15BHP bass reflex speakers were supplied (powered by MC2 TI3500) as well as a single Flex 8 full-range speaker for onstage monitoring (powered by Australian Monitor AMIS250P). This system was entirely portable and so could be removed and stored when not in use.

www.polaraudio.co.uk