Founded in 1952 by a handful of families in the sleepy San Fernando Valley, Temple Judea has grown along with its surrounding community to become one of the area’s largest and most vibrant Reform Jewish synagogues. The temple’s campus has undergone many changes over its history, including a comprehensive rebuild and renovation, completed in 2011.
The temple’s new sanctuary, named for former Rabbi Donald Goor, is a stunningly beautiful work of architecture — wide and spacious with plenty of natural light, and seating that brings the entire congregation close to the service. But as Terry Stewart, President of Simon Productions (Los Angeles) observes, what is visually pleasing may not be sonically friendly.
“It’s a very wide room, with two large overflow areas on either side,” Stewart recounts. “It’s very difficult to achieve the kind of coverage needed with traditional point-source speakers, particularly into those overflow areas. In addition, there’s a large cavity in the ceiling, about four feet wide by eight feet tall; it’s used primarily as a skylight, but it also created its own acoustical issues.” The original sound system employed ceiling speakers to cover the overflow seating, and was less than effective, as was the system covering the main seating area. “Coverage was spotty and inconsistent pretty much everywhere in the sanctuary,” Stewart reports.
When Temple Judea came to Stewart for advice on addressing their audio issues, his response was clear. “We decided the ICONYX system from Renkus-Heinz would be the perfect solution for this room,” he explains. The system comprises a single ICONYX IC24-RN digitally steered array on either side of the proscenium. “We chose the Iconyx primarily for its 150 degree horizontal coverage,” Stewart explains. “With just these two IC24 columns, we were able to cover the entire sanctuary, even the overflow spaces. We were able to steer the beams right where we wanted the sound to go, and keep it away from the hard surfaces at the back of the room, away from the glass at the left and right of the room.”
Stewart reports that not only is the client exceptionally pleased, but so is he. “It was really a pleasure to be able to see the system perform so quickly, and be able to address every one of our needs so easily. The Iconyx system covered every seat in the house.”