The Machine Hall building at Design and Architecture Norway (DOGA) in Oslo, which regularly hosts a range of events such as conferences, live music sets and video screenings, was recently outfitted with Renkus-Heinz digitally steerable loudspeakers by Benum, the company’s Norwegian distributor.
“The basic requirements were high speech intelligibility throughout the hall and sound reinforcement of live music,” explains Daniel Glaister, Pro Audio Sales manager for Benum Norway. “But in addition to that diverse use, the hall itself is a challenge from an acoustics standpoint. That means a powerful solution like Renkus-Heinz digitally steerable loudspeakers are required.”
The digitally steerable technology helps in distributing audio output where it’s desired — on the audience — and away from reflective surfaces and other compromising architectural and acoustic facets. “The Machine Hall is acoustically challenging both from a geometric and material point of view,” Glaister says. “The shape of the main hall is long and narrow at 10 by 34 meters, and the ceiling is more than eight meters high. Further, the construction is true to the original materials used in the location and mainly consists of brick and concrete. This makes it highly reverberant.”
In response, Benum integrated two Dante-enabled Renkus-Heinz IC24-RD and five IC8-RD loudspeakers. “The speakers are unobtrusive when wall mounted,” he notes. “That allows them to blend into the overall design. A surprise benefit of the IC24-RDs, which are nearly three meters tall, was that we could make them more prominent and create a natural frame for large scale projections on the rear wall. It allowed for flexibility in the visual design, which was excellent for the space.”
The integration also utilizes Audinate’s Dante protocol for audio-over-IP delivery across the system, and includes components from Allen & Heath and Shure in the workflow. “The whole system is used several times a week by non-technical personnel without issue,” Glaister concludes. “It has greatly increased the popularity of the venue with a noticeably higher number of bookings than before the installation. In all, it’s performing incredibly well and has greatly impressed the client.”
