The newly-built District Six Fine Arts Center in Roebuck, SC, a multi-use auditorium for all of the schools in the area as well as the community, is outfitted with a sound reinforcement system headed by Renkus-Heinz VARIA modular point source line array loudspeakers.
Raleigh, NC-based Theater Consultants Collaborative designed the system for the 1,500-seat auditorium, which hosts a diverse roster of events year-round, including theatrical productions, concerts, movies, recitals, lectures, and convocations. The main front of house system comprises left and right flown arrays of eight VARIA VA101-7 7.5 degree cabinets and one VA101-15 15 degree cabinet.
“VARIA was an ideal choice for this venue because its variable coverage pattern enabled us to use fewer boxes to achieve the same coverage,” explains David Clyburn of Roebuck, SC-based Musicraft, the company handling the installation. “The result was a reduction in both cost and weight, as well as improved sightlines. And the directional capabilities of the VARIA arrays eliminated the need for separate under balcony coverage.”
VARIA’s modular design enables cabinets to be configured as flown vertical arrays, horizontal arrays, or ground stacked. Self-powered and networkable, VARIA’s range of vertical and horizontal dispersion angles and Renkus-Heinz’s proprietary Transitional Waveguides make it easy to configure systems to cover even the most challenging spaces.
For low frequency reinforcement, six R-H DR18-2 direct radiating subwoofers are ground stacked in concrete reinforced chambers to the left and right of the stage. The subwoofers are installed three to each side in cardioid configuration, 16 feet above the stage floor.
Four R-H PN121 2-way Complex Conic loudspeakers cover the balcony, with 20 R-H PNX81 2-way loudspeakers installed around the auditorium supporting surround sound reinforcement, creating a true 7.1 surround sound environment in the auditorium.
Despite a tight timeline and other logistical challenges that accompanied the construction project, Clyburn reports the system has been well received. “The VARIA system is easy to configure, which helped us meet some very short deadlines. Ultimately, the system sounds great, and school and community officials are very pleased with the results.”
