Renkus-Heinz Brings Balanced Sound to the Art of Living with Beam-Steering Technology

	The loudspeakers' slim enclosures provide a discreet solution.

The Art of Living Center is an urban oasis in the heart of Los Angeles, California. Part of a global nonprofit movement dedicated to reducing stress and fostering wellbeing through meditation, breathwork, and community service, the center serves as a hub for personal growth and community connection. As one of the world's most prominent Art of Living centers, this haven brings the community together through transformational wellbeing programs, volunteering, and community events. The building is an early 20th-century architectural gem, featuring what was once the world's largest concrete poured dome, extensive glasswork, and a historic pipe organ. This creates a visually breathtaking yet highly acoustically challenging environment.

The vast volume, reflective surfaces and historic character of the building's central sanctuary make it an inspiring place to gather but difficult to deliver clear, intelligible sound. To address this challenge, the Art of Living partnered with Menlo Scientific Acoustic's principal consultant, Neil Shaw, FASA, FAES, and Electronic Technology integrator, Russ DuBrow, to design and install a new audio system capable of delivering speech intelligibility and musical clarity while respecting the historic architecture. Their solution: Renkus-Heinz IC Live Gen5 ICL-F-DUAL digitally steerable arrays, supported by a pair of SA112 subwoofers.

As well as speech and meditative programming, the sanctuary also hosts occasional musical performances that demand higher sound pressure levels. This diverse program material was a key reason for selecting IC Live -- the system's ability to deliver both high output and precision makes it uniquely suited to support everything from spoken word and chanting to louder musical elements, including a full band with keyboards, guitars, and bongo drums, without sacrificing any clarity.

"Most seasoned AV gurus would walk away from a space like this," jokes DuBrow, "but with today's digitally steerable arrays, we finally have the tools to take on large, reverberant rooms with confidence." A pair of custom-painted Renkus-Heinz ICL-F-DUALs were installed on either side of the room's projection screen. Their slim enclosures provide a discreet, elegant solution alongside vertical pattern control. "Digital technology provides a major advantage in such a large space where you usually can't control anything," continues DuBrow. "It allowed us to manage unwanted frequencies and complex reflections from the dome far more precisely, while the line-array capabilities enabled us to steer sounds away from reflective surfaces."

During installation, a previously unaccounted for wall-mounted projection screen was found to obstruct the loudspeakers' designated locations. To avoid interference, the arrays were moved about nine feet farther apart. "It actually improved the design," notes Shaw. "The coverage was good before tuning, but after beam steering and optimization, the improvement was dramatic."

With limited acoustic treatment in the room and no ability to add more without compromising the architecture, the two ICL-F-DUALs discreetly mounted on the front columns deliver controlled, focused coverage to the seating areas. "The steerable beam allowed us to direct sound to the seating areas while avoiding the parts of the room where it wasn't needed," adds Shaw.

To complete the audio system, two SA112 subwoofers were installed in the front of the stage, placed directly on the floor to prevent unwanted resonance and low-frequency absorption. A niche was constructed for the sub-woofer enclosures to mitigate the energy from the enclosures leaking underneath the platform, resulting in compact but impactful low-frequency performance. To complete the integration, a custom metal grille and frame were shaped to match the curve of the stage. A new Allen & Heath GX4816 digital mixer and Cat5/6 extender with D-snake DT168 Stage Box were added later, providing a significant upgrade to signal routing and overall system control.

The installation has significantly enhanced speech intelligibility and uniformity throughout the sanctuary, the company says, allowing lecturers, presenters, and spiritual leaders to be heard clearly across the space and fully supporting the center's wide range of programming. The system now achieves greater gain before feedback, providing reliable performance across varied microphones and speaking styles, as well as during energetic music productions. Its improved clarity has also made communication noticeably easier during spoken presentations, chanting, and meditation programs, delivering a level of support that was previously not possible. "I've used Renkus-Heinz on several projects now -- there's a trust factor. I know what the arrays are capable of, and they've performed for me time and time again," concludes DuBrow.

"After spending more time with the system, we've found it performing well beyond our expectations," says Philip Fraser, meditation teacher at the Art of Living Center. "Even during small gatherings when guests are seated on the floor close to the stage and the hall's reflective surfaces are more exposed, everyone can still hear clearly and consistently. We're also getting a balanced, full-range sound for music performances."

Through collaboration, careful tuning, and the accuracy of Renkus-Heinz steerable arrays, the sanctuary delivers the precision its varied usage requires, without compromising the architectural elegance that defines the Art of Living Center, the company says.