Renkus-Heinz Iconyx beam-steering loudspeakers have been installed to modernise the audio at Toronto’s Convocation Hall venue.
The University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall is a historic venue with a unique circular design. Imagined by prominent architects Darling and Pearson and completed in 1907, it has become a university landmark, hosting the annual convocation ceremonies and serving as the primary venue for academic and social functions due to its seating capacity of over 1,700.
Plagued by challenging acoustics, the hall’s reflective surfaces introduced significant complications, particularly for speech intelligibility. The previous sound system in Convocation Hall, an aging column array, was no longer effective – lacking the clarity needed for speech reinforcement in such a large, reverberant space.
The need for a new solution was pressing, and the primary challenge was finding a system that could provide high intelligibility without overpowering the room or adding to its already challenging acoustic environment. As John Busza, systems designer at Global USS – the project’s integrator – explains: “The architecture of the room creates multiple reflections and delayed arrival times, complicating the listening experience. We needed a speaker solution that not only provided high intelligibility but also used the existing cabling and infrastructure.
In addition to their technical capabilities, Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers offered a solution to another significant challenge – aesthetics. As Convocation Hall is a heritage building, any new equipment had to blend seamlessly with its historical interior. "The speakers can be custom colour-matched, which we did for this project," noted Busza. "Architects and interior designers often don’t want the speakers to be seen at all, and with Iconyx, that’s possible. They have the least visual impact of any loudspeaker on the market, and the ability to paint them to match any colour makes them virtually unnoticeable."
For the Convocation Hall project, two Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC32 arrays were installed, positioned about twelve feet above the stage. Each array contains 32 custom 4-in coaxial drivers, powered by 32 separate amplifier channels, all controlled through advanced digital signal processing (DSP). This setup allows for precise steering of sound to specific areas of the hall, ensuring that every seat – whether on the floor or in the balconies – receives clear and intelligible audio.