The historical basilica is visually stunning but its vaulted ceilings and abundance of hard surfaces create acoustical challenges for audio engineers during religious services. Desiring to eliminate as much reverb as possible and increase speech intelligibility, Our Lady of Victory recently installed a Renkus-Heinz Iconyx digitally steerable line array system for enhanced sound quality.
Explains John Burckhalter, pro audio/video project manager at Ronco Specialized Systems, the Rochester, New York-based company who designed and installed the Iconyx system, "We designed a pretty basic system primarily for vocal reinforcement in an extremely large reverberant space. We chose the Iconyx series due to its digitally steerable line array characteristics and pattern control."
The basilica's new high-performance audio system utilizes several Iconyx IC16 loudspeakers mounted on four marble columns flanking the main altar. Featuring audiophile-quality digital electronics and multi-channel amplifiers, the Iconyx digitally steerable array technology provides highly directional sound that can be focused on the listener, thereby eliminating reverb caused by sound bouncing off hard surfaces.
Iconyx also allows for the array's acoustic centre to be raised or lowered electronically which greatly improves high frequency performance with consistent broad horizontal dispersion. "The Iconyx IC16's perform flawlessly and cover the required seating areas evenly," Burckhalter reports.
Audio signal processing and input source mixing is provided by a Biamp Nexia CS processor with a RED-1 wall controller programmed to adjust volume levels. The Iconyx speaker processing is utilized for the main equalization and delay setup. For additional sound reinforcement, several delayed JBL Control 25 speakers are mounted on each columns located at the sides and rear of the church, all powered by Crown CT series amps.
(Jim Evans)
