Los Angeles, CA | July, 2017 - Housed in a new, 70-foot-tall, 54,000-square-foot building designed by local architect William Murray of Pfeiffer Partners, Inc., University of Southern California's $46 million Glorya Kaufman International School of Dance features a large performance studio, four medium dance studios, and one upper division studio. To ensure that the audio and video systems met Pfeiffer Partner's quality standards and the University's functional expectations, Pfeiffer Partners, Inc., hired San Luis Obispo, California, electro-acoustic consultant Rick Wells of Multi-Media Consulting, Inc. Wells designed, and ProSound installed, a system based on Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers using a scalable system concept that is custom-configured for the specialized needs of each space.
"I designed several scalable systems to accommodate the different rooms' variations and functional requirements," Wells observes. "I wanted all of the studios to function and sound similar, so that instructors and students can easily move from studio to studio. Ralph Heinz was first loudspeaker designer to recognize the needs of consultants and give us these types of tools so we can achieve complex goals in system design."
The 60 x 40-foot medium dance studios are designed with Renkus-Heinz RH123 three-way point-source reinforcement systems and a PN112 subwoofer. "The RH123 is one of my favorite loudspeakers," Wells explains. "They are compact, sound natural, and are available with multiple horn patterns. This lets me use the same loudspeaker in multiple room with different sizes and shapes. The CDT-3 mid/high driver uses a 3-inch compression driver and 6.5-inch mid driver in a coentrant configuration that gives me the ability to control the pattern of coverage down to 300 Hz with predictable results. The compression driver has a relatively low compression ratio that produces an overall natural, open sound."
Wells designed a separate speech-reinforcement system to assist the instructors when teaching for hours in loud environments. "I did not want to use the program audio speakers for speech, so I designed an autonomous speech-reinforcement system. I included a wireless microphone and a simple mixer, and I used a single Renkus-Heinz TRX62H, located above the instructor, for the best coherence without the possibility of comb filtering. The TRX62H has a very wide horizontal dispersion." The Renkus-Heinz TRX62H two-way Complex Conic loudspeaker system features dual 6.5-inch, heavy-duty, low-frequency drivers and a 1-inch, extended-range, titanium HF driver that offers 150° by 60° coverage. The system is a simple, elegant, compact solution.
