Renkus-Heinz Brings Modern Sound to Historic Theatre's Live Performances

The Cyprian Norwid Theatre in Jelenia Góra, Poland was built in 1904 to serve as an artistic hub for a city with a burgeoning performing arts scene. The building was designed in an Art Nouveau style, and over the years has hosted thousands of events including plays, concerts, educational lectures, religious events, and other ceremonies for the area. Its main stage, which seats 540, has served as a constant backdrop to thousands of shows over the years -- and its original design remains intact to this day.

However, that timeless design -- featuring two balconies and a number of uniquely placed private box seats -- also provided a challenge with live sound over the years. Numerous reflective surfaces made audio clarity and quality subpar in some locations inside the theatre.

So, when looking at a modernization of the theatre's technology in 2020, Polish integration and distribution firm M.Ostrowski sp.j considered an approach to both improve coverage and intelligibility. The solution? Digitally steerable loudspeakers from Renkus-Heinz.

"To meet the requirements of the theatre we chose a Renkus-Heinz system," says Dominik Wilczynski, audio engineer at M.Ostrowski sp.j. "The great advantage of using Renkus-Heinz is the ability to create digitally steerable beams and keep the loudspeakers mounted flat on the wall. By using software to tailor an asymmetrical beam and steer it towards the listeners only, we limit unwanted reflections. This improves direct sound and intelligibility."

The theatre relies on four ICLive X steerable array modules on the ground floor -- featuring two-unit tall ICLX arrays on each side of the stage -- and two ICLive X modules on the first balcony level. The theatre also utilizes four ICLive X 118S subwoofers on the main floor, which are portable units that allow for scalability in sound depending on the type of performance.

The ICLive X series is the culmination of over a decade of experience in steerable line arrays, and is the latest evolution of the medium-format, steerable line array in the Renkus-Heinz line. ICLive X modules feature Dante networking, which provides extreme ease in system deployment and low impact installation -- a key consideration for heritage protected locations such as the Cyprian Norwid Theatre.

Further, the company says, the ICLive X offers all the benefits of Renkus-Heinz steerable technology -- allowing for sound to be digitally positioned precisely where you want it: on the audience.

"During the implementation we had an unexpected change in the loudspeaker system design, where the delay boxes for the second balcony had to be removed," says Wilczynski. "But with Renkus-Heinz' digital beam steering we were able to program multiple beams so they are directed precisely where we need the coverage. It is a huge benefit that the technology is so flexible, and that it addresses real problems we see in the field."