St. Bridget Catholic Church has addressed the acoustic issues in its main hall with a steerable Iconyx system from Renkus-Heinz. The original sound system at the church was installed behind panels above the altar area and was unable to correct the hall’s many acoustic challenges.
“The room is about 124ft in diameter, with a high ceiling and windows around the perimeter,” explained Jon McDowell, owner of Rockford, IL-based systems integrator Jonny B Enterprises Inc. “The views are lovely but reflections were a critical issue. Ceiling reflections are not as bad as you might expect but the windows are incredibly reflective. There also were acoustic dead spots in the room. The old system was hidden behind panels, which was sort of like trying to fire sound through a tank driver’s window. On top of that, service was a nightmare: You needed 20ft of scaffolding just to get to the grills and an extension ladder on top of that to get to the speakers. It was time for a change.”
A Renkus-Heinz Iconyx system was specified after McDowell heard it at various trade shows with steerable beams seen as the best choice for St.Bridget as they have the ability to focus the sound on the congregation and off the hard surfaces. The system McDowell recommended was based around left and right Renkus-Heinz Iconyx-series IC24-R-II steerable arrays.
“Gene Williams from Frequency Sales came in with a demo system and set it up,” added McDowell. “The architect was present as well. Between the demo and what we had learned at the trade shows about using steerable beams to keep sound off the reflective surfaces and on the congregation, we quickly realised that a pair of IC24-R-IIs, with one column on each side of the altar, was the right choice. The system was tuned with Renkus-Heinz RHAON II system management software, and it all went perfectly.
“I have gotten no negative feedback and lots of positive comments. Several people told us, ‘that’s the first time I’ve been able to hear everything.’ We also got comments like ‘I didn’t even see the speakers until you pointed them out,’ and ‘It’s just those two columns?’ I’m so happy with Iconyx that I got Renkus-Heinz to qualify me on the product for future installs. Thanks, Renkus-Heinz, for great service and for a great product that solved acoustic issues in a difficult room!”
