Founded in 1843 by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., is ranked among the leading four-year liberal arts colleges and reportedly offers one of the most beautiful urban college campuses in the U.S. Its Henry M. Hogan Campus Center offers a variety of services and facilities, including a multipurpose ballroom. "The ballroom serves a variety of functions, [including] conferences, dinners, lectures, meetings, and dances," says Holy Cross AV Services Director Jesse Anderson. "We even have a tremendous disco ball in the ceiling."
Designing a sound system for the ballroom, however, required careful consideration. "Architecturally, it's a tough space because it has a hardwood floor and one wall has enormous floor-to-ceiling windows," observes Anderson. "The room is not huge but speech intelligibility was a major issue. We also wanted something that could reinforce music for events that are not specifically concerts."
The AV Services staff reports they have been fans of Renkus-Heinz Iconyx digitally steerable line arrays since installing Iconyx IC24-R-II line arrays in the school's chapel. "The chapel is an even tougher space acoustically because it's all stone," Anderson notes. "In the chapel, other than occasional musical programs, the loudspeakers are primarily used for speech reinforcement, and the Iconyx system did a great job with that. Since speech intelligibility was a major consideration in the ballroom, we knew Iconyx would be the right solution there, as well."
Another factor was visibility -- or rather, invisibility. "Renkus-Heinz was able to give us the exact color we needed so that the Iconyx loudspeakers disappear into the background of the ballroom," Anderson reports. "They are heard but not seen. That was a key deciding factor for us."
Initially, Anderson's team installed a pair of Iconyx IC8-R-IIs in the ballroom. "We installed the IC8s just before John Kerry became Secretary of State," Anderson recalls. "We used them when we hosted him in the ballroom on his farewell tour through Massachusetts, and we loved them."
The smallest of the Iconyx line, the IC8-R-II features eight four-inch coaxial transducers, each with three high-frequency tweeters. Its frequency response ranges from 120 Hz to 18 kHz, and it can deliver up to 96 dB SPL. As Iconyx loudspeakers are known for, its digitally steerable beams help ensure that sound is delivered directly to the audience, with minimal reflections off the floor, ceiling and walls.
Achieving fuller coverage
As much as they liked the IC8-R-II, however, the Holy Cross team decided to upgrade to a beefier model. "In the process of redoing the room, we decided we wanted more SPL for fuller coverage," explains Anderson. "We reviewed a number of loudspeaker options and chose Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC16-R-IIs."
The IC16-R-II ups the ante to 16 of the same coaxial transducers found in the IC8-R-II. Its frequency response is the same as the smaller model but it delivers up to 99 dB SPL, with better overall coverage. "In addition to the increased power and coverage, the IC16-R-IIs gave us improved low-frequency control for music," Anderson adds. He says typically, the stage is the focus of the ballroom unless the room is completely unfocused, as with a tradeshow or a dinner event. Therefore, he notes, "The speakers are located to either side of the stage proscenium and are used directionally from there. We also have adjoining spaces with their own sound systems."
To provide user-friendly, hands-off operation, all mics and other audio inputs go directly to a Biamp Tesira-series DSP, where they are auto-mixed. The mix is routed straight to the loudspeakers. The new system has proven a complete success. "We're very happy with our Iconyx systems, both in the chapel and in the ballroom," Anderson concludes.
