Chaminade Prep Graduates to Great Sound with Iconyx

	Chaminade's Tutor Family Center for the Performing Arts

When Chaminade High School for Boys opened its doors in 1952, it was housed in a converted military academy in Los Angeles that played host to 114 students. Since then, the school (now co-ed and known as Chaminade College Preparatory School) has expanded to include middle and high schools on two campuses in the Los Angeles, California suburb of Chatsworth and West Hills.

The Chatsworth campus hosts the high school, which has recently added the Tutor Family Center for the Performing Arts, a high tech, 600-seat auditorium and performance space equipped with distributed video in the lobby areas, and a full theatrical sound reinforcement system featuring Renkus-Heinz Iconyx digitally steered loudspeaker arrays.

The system employs two Iconyx ICLive Dual columns, utilizing triple HF coaxial transducers, one on each side of the stage. As Art Rautenberg of JK Design Group in nearby North Hills, California explains, the Iconyx columns were selected both for their control and their form factor.

"The side walls are all brick, and room is pretty reflective, and we were concerned about the acoustics," says Rautenberg. "The Iconyx enabled us to steer the sound and direct it away from the walls and reflective surfaces and into the seating area."

The Iconyx columns' slim profile was an ideal fit for the space as well, Rautenberg observes. "The architect had left us very little space to mount the loudspeakers," he says. "We basically had a small alcove on either side of the stage that wasn't very wide. So the Iconyx columns are set back a bit into the alcove areas." The installation, performed by Audio Video Design Build Group (AVDB), also includes a Yamaha M7CL console installed at front of house.

"The Iconyx really was the ideal solution for this particular challenge," Rautenberg concludes. "They've got incredible frequency response and tight control over the sound beams. They sound great on the orchestral stuff and great for theater and spoken word programs. They really fit the application perfectly."