Toronto, CN (January 10, 2012)—In the heart of Toronto’s downtown financial district sits The National Club—a non-political, members-only organization that, since its founding in 1874, has hosted a who’s who of Canadian and foreign dignitaries. Today it serves as an esteemed venue for private meetings and dinners, weddings, presentations and club-hosted events, many of which are heard through a new Renkus-Heinz Iconyx system.
The brick-and-plaster building has endured several renovations since being constructed in 1906. Most recently, the club’s Board of Directors voted to replace the Main Dining Room’s existing audio system, with an eye toward better addressing the club’s requirements for high voice intelligibility and improved sound distribution.
The two-story, 1,950-square-foot Main Dining Room comfortably seats 200 people, with antique chandeliers hanging from its 19-foot ceiling. A balcony is located to one side of the room, creating two alcoves directly underneath it.
According to Brock McGinnis of Westbury National Show Systems, Ltd., who designed and installed the new audio system, the building’s historic nature and 14″ thick brick-and-plaster walls presented some specific challenges during the installation.
“The room is a very reverberant two-story space, and the dinner guests create a great deal of noise,” McGinnis explains. “It’s very much like having dinner in the middle of a cathedral. The walls and ceiling are made of very hard surfaces, so in addition to the reverb problem, we weren’t able to run any cable through the walls.”
McGinnis opted for an Iconyx digitally steerable array loudspeaker system by Renkus-Heinz. A pair of IC8-R columns are mounted on either side of the room’s motorized video screen. “Renkus-Heinz was our first choice for The National Club,” says McGinnis. “We’ve used Iconyx loudspeakers on many other projects and find them to be extremely effective at steering the sound precisely where it’s needed, and away from areas where it isn’t. The quality of sound we get is excellent, even with all the hard surfaces in the room.”
Preserving the character and appearance of the club’s architecture was of prime importance, but apparently the attention to detail has paid off: “The National Club is so pleased with the Iconyx system’s sound quality and distribution technology that they want to install more Iconyx loudspeakers in other parts of the building,” McGinnis reports.
Renkus-Heinz, Inc.
www.renkus-heinz.com
