As Scott Leonard of Wauwatosa, WI-based Professional Audio Designs explains, audio for the 1300-seat hall offered some special design challenges. "The balcony is steeply raked, giving it quite a bit of height to the seats at the rear wall," he says. "We needed to design a system with a balcony delay but also provide a reference to the stage for localization."
Having previously worked with the IC Live system at Iowa's Luther College Center for Faith and Life, Leonard knew what the system was capable of in terms of fidelity, power and control. It didn't take much to convince David Nees, the Young Auditorium's technical director. "I brought David to the NAMM Show in Anaheim," he says. "Renkus-Heinz had an IC Live system installed on a live performance stage in the Convention Center lobby, and at an outdoor stage. David was able to listen to a variety of different bands performing through the systems in diametrically different acoustic environments. He was really impressed with the amount of sound coming from such a small system. We even were able to ride up an escalator outside and listen to the smooth vertical coverage control."
To address the Young Auditorium's coverage requirements, Leonard contacted Ralph Heinz, Renkus-Heinz senior vice president. "I called Ralph and asked him if there was a way to configure the IC Live with a third ICL-R array for both increased output and low frequency control," he explains, "this would also increase artist acceptance and reduce the amount of rental systems needed."
The full system includes two ICL-R triple stacks mounted left and right of the proscenium, along with an additional dual ICL-R system mounted behind a lighting catwalk for over-balcony delay. Four PN212 subwoofers provide low frequency coverage.
As Leonard explains, the triple unit is configured to provide a localization reference for the upper balcony system. "I decided to leave the high frequency section in the top box and flip it around so that the high frequency section would be its own controllable element at the top, and not part of the main steerable array."
(Jim Evans)
