Saudi Arabian university opts for Renkus-Heinz
Published: MEA
SAUDI ARABIA: Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University has installed Renkus-Heinz Iconyx speaker systems to cover the lecture halls and auditoriums in both its men’s and women’s campuses.
Most of the university's multiple lecture halls and auditoriums on both campuses have a long history of intelligibility and reverberation issues. To tackle this, university officials embarked on a multi-year retrofit of the school’s sound reinforcement systems. After a thorough review of the various facilities, Spanish engineering and architectural firm Typsa recommended Iconyx digitally steerable line array loudspeaker systems. Local Riyadh contractor/integrator Baud Telecom Company was selected as the installing contractor.
‘Renkus-Heinz Iconyx was the clear choice for a project of this magnitude,’ said Typsa design supervisor Sergio Onrubia Alvarez. ‘Steered-beam technology was the obvious solution for these challenging spaces, and Renkus-Heinz is the recognised leader in digital beam steering. We wanted consistency in sound quality throughout the campus, and we were confident that Renkus-Heinz systems were versatile enough to deliver the performance and coverage requirements of these many different spaces.’
The women’s campus installation included 40 lecture halls, each with 112 seats, and two 200-seat auditoriums. A pair of Iconyx IC16-R-II columns was installed in each of the 40 lecture halls. The two auditoriums are outfitted with a pair of IC16-R-II arrays, augmented by three SG61-R compact 6.5-inch two-way Complex Conic loudspeakers for front fill coverage. A CF15S 15-inch subwoofer handles LF reinforcement. ‘Prior to installation, we measured the total reverberation time in the halls at 1.2s, with resonances on the mid and low frequencies,’ stated Typsa technical supervisor Victor Fernández Garrido. ‘As we expected, the Iconyx systems improved intelligibility significantly.’
The men’s campus is divided into dedicated buildings for the various colleges, each with two 400-seat auditoriums. For these halls, Typsa specified left and right arrays of five PN102LAR point source arrays. Each array includes IC212S-R dual 12-inch subwoofers, and three SG61-R boxes are installed on the stage lip for front fills.
The main conference building on the men’s campus includes two larger halls. A major concern in these halls was an acoustic drop ceiling that magnified room resonance and audible vibrations. A pair of Iconyx IC Live ICL-FR-DUAL columns is installed in each of the rooms. ‘By employing IC Live systems in these two halls, we were able to achieve consistent coverage while addressing the vibration and resonance issues, as well as improving intelligibility by reducing room reverberation,’ said Alvaro Guiterrez Moreno, Typsa architectural support.
For two smaller 60-seat and 100-seat auditoriums in the administration building, Typsa recommended left-right IC8-R-II and IC16-R-II systems, respectively, with the larger venue also receiving three SG61-R boxes for front fills.
‘This was a very large and multi-faceted installation,’ concluded Mr Garrido. ‘We needed to be able to address intelligibility problems in the halls and auditoriums, as well as deliver consistent coverage and high performance in all the rooms across the campus. We were confident that Renkus-Heinz was the only company that could meet all of the University’s strict criteria, and officials are very happy with the results.’