NAT Takes CODA to School

Leading national audio and AV integration specialists, North American Theatrix (NAT) services a wide range of distinguished clients on a host of installations across theatre, cinema, conference, education, stadium, and house of worship applications. Collaborating closely with clients, architects, and general contractors, NAT brings innovation, ingenuity, and vast experience to every challenge. Some of its recent installations in the education sector featured the deployment of systems from rising stars CODA Audio, and illustrate both NAT's willingness to embrace new and exciting technologies and the flexibility and versatility of the German manufacturer's range.

Set in a 50-acre campus and founded in 1925 by the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs, Albertus Magnus College is a Catholic private liberal arts college in New Haven, Connecticut, that offers education to around 1,200 undergraduate students. Last year the college renovated and refurbished its Hubert Campus Center - NAT was appointed to supply and install audio for the project.

Contained within the Center, the Behan Community room is a large, multi-function space used for a variety of college and external functions. This relatively low-ceilinged space which can comfortably seat more than three hundred, required flexible, high quality audio system for speech and music reinforcement. The system needed sufficient power to obtain the necessary throw, while being simultaneously discreet. Small and powerful was the order of the day and NAT chose to install a CODA Audio N-APS system to meet the challenge.

N-APS is a unique category of ultra-compact loudspeaker for small to medium size venues that combines the versatility of a point source with the perfect arrayability of a line array, to offer sound designers the absolute maximum in power, flexibility, and versatility. With dynamic range and variable horizontal directivity, N-APS contains the very latest in CODA's driver and system design technology, including Dynamic Airflow Cooling (DAC) which dramatically improves heat dissipation, doubling power handling and maximum SPL capability compared to a conventionally cooled system, the company says.

The installation at Albertus Magnus College was a great success. All the project partners were unanimous in their approval of the system, which although deceptively small (comprising just 2 x N-APS and an N-SUB per side, flown above the stage) more than met the room's requirements. Sightlines remained completely unaffected by this ultra-compact system, the company says.

The town of Greenwich is also in Connecticut, and is home to Sacred Heart Greenwich, an all-girls' Catholic, independent college-preparatory day school. Situated in a beautiful 110-acre campus, the school provides its 700 students with excellent facilities that include a fully-equipped observatory. Alongside a rigorous academic programme, Sacred Heart encourages a diverse range of activities including a very active drama program, whose productions are staged in the school's own Lennie and John de Csepel Theater. It was into this space that NAT was invited to install a new audio system. With a busy and ambitious program of events, Sacred Heart sought a system of the highest quality that could meet a full range of speech and music reinforcement demands, while, as was the case at Albertus Magnus College, be discreet and match the aesthetic of the theatre's clean lines.

A medium-sized venue, the theatre required high fidelity, punchy sound that would reach every audience member for theater productions and a wide-range of other presentations. NAT chose to use CODA Audio APS, the larger sibling of the N-APS system installed at Albertus Magnus. In many medium sized applications such as this, traditional point source solutions cannot provide enough sound pressure, while a line array might be over-sized and expensive. APS addresses the limitations of traditional point source systems by offering unprecedented flexibility and performance. Flexible dispersion is key to obtaining consistently even coverage. At the de Csepel theater, NAT a installed a single APS60 and APS90 per side (in white) with a further three highly versatile CODA Audio HOPS8 (optimised first near field applications) for stage monitoring, as well as a single U4-Sub for powerful low frequency response. This highly compact, discreet and elegant solution satisfied the brief with plenty of headroom to spare.

Luke Jenks, managing director of CODA Audio USA comments, "The systems designed by NAT for these applications perfectly illustrate how our range of loudspeakers can meet very specific requirements without sonic or aesthetic compromise. All of the systems in our range are designed to be used independently or in conjunction with each other to best cater for the demands of a given setting. In the hands of expert specialist integrators like NAT, who are accustomed to working with the very best available products, our range comes into its own as a driver of quality, customer satisfaction and ultimately, better business. CODA has raised the bar for modern, cutting-edge audio solutions, and leading integrators are clearly taking note."