Renkus-Heinz delivers first-class audio to students at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

The University of Toronto Scarborough, established in 1964, is one of the top-ranked universities in Canada and has long been a leader in offering innovative and engaging approaches to higher education. The institution prides itself on creating environments in which students can truly thrive, and its recently built Sam Ibrahim Building is central to this ethos. The expansive five-storey building houses lecture halls, faculty offices, collaboration spaces, and more. Six “feature” lecture theaters were key to the development: Conveyor, Cave, Keystone, Collaboratorium, Cloud, and the flagship Arrow Group Innovation Hall (formerly known as the Campfire), which features a 360° seating arrangement. These modern, individually designed spaces all shared the same audio challenge: the need for outstanding coherence and crystal-clear speech from professors.

To address the task, the university partnered with Contact Distribution Ltd, a leading Canadian distributor of audio products, and integrator Global Unified Solution Services Inc. (Global USS).

Together, they designed and installed a bespoke Renkus-Heinz ecosystem in each theater based on UBX Series passively steered columns and C Series point-source loudspeakers for their exceptional directivity and sound clarity.

Lead architects CEBRA and ZAS aimed to create an emotionally stimulating study environment that encourages sensory-forward, inclusive learning. According to Bill Coons, Director of Contract Distribution, “These rooms look and sound dramatically different from anything I’ve seen to engage the students and make the learning experience more effective and fulfilling”.

The layout, design, and materials used in lecture theaters can significantly impact how sound travels and is perceived by attendees. Factors like reverberation can severely affect speech clarity. Understanding these psychoacoustic challenges allowed the project team to choose an audio system that delivers sound with optimum clarity, reducing the effects of reverberation and other acoustic issues that can make speech more difficult to understand. With tiered seating and varying angles, the challenge was to ensure 100% intelligibility in each unique space.

The overarching challenge for us was providing a solution for rooms that were already designed, with cable pathways already in place. Our installation team therefore had to work with the space they were given, making Renkus-Heinz’s adaptable solutions a perfect fit, explains John Busza, CTS-D, Systems Designer at Global USS. 

“I was at an industry event with John early on in the project, and I expressed my concern that the speaker arrays we would be using in the larger feature rooms wouldn’t provide sufficient coverage”, explains Blake Markle, Manager of Classroom Technology and Film Services at the University of Toronto Scarborough. “These rooms feature 100–200 seats, and they all have irregular ceilings with angles and materials that make working with ceiling or pendant speakers impossible. All we could use were two arrays on the front wall".John simply said, "‘I got you. The Renkus-Heinz UBX8 arrays are small but powerful; they will fill the room with sound, and the topmost drivers will reach those back rows.’ Once the installation was far enough along to play some audio in the rooms, I was happy to confirm that he was right. It is great to work with an AV partner who can take your concerns into consideration, offer reassurance that things will be good, and really follow through on that. Choosing the right equipment is one of the ways this is done”.

Four of the lecture theaters each received a pair of UBX8 loudspeakers, while the fifth theater doubled up on this approach. These pre-steered passive column loudspeakers deliver precise coverage, intelligibility, and exceptional sound quality. Thirty CX61 loudspeakers were chosen for the Arrow Group Innovation Hall due to their wide dispersion, the flexibility of a rotatable horn, and a subwoofer size suitable for the vocal range. “The overall calibre of audio intelligibility that Renkus-Heinz is known for is always something to keep in mind for delivery of sound in a school – students need to hear the message clearly”, remarks Busza.

Because of the variation in tiered seating, the coverage was simple to model in some rooms, whereas others required more placement and tilt adjustments. The UBX8 loudspeakers’ passive UniBeam technology helps deliver the consistent coverage needed. The columns were placed on the sides of the dual projection screen setups, with the 120° dispersion bringing sound into the middle of the first few rows. The UBX8’s precise, asymmetrical vertical pattern control was also helpful for the tiered layout, ensuring clear audio in every seat.

In one particularly challenging room, the cable rough-ins were lower than the integrators preferred when looking at the EASE Focus modelling, with priority given to covering up the rough-in with the bottom of the speaker rather than dressing cabling on the wall. This led to the loudspeakers being significantly lower than needed. Together with Contact Distribution, we decided to mount a second pair of UBX8s above the first pair, rotated 180° so that the down-tilt of the vertical dispersion faced upwards instead. This provided a longer array and therefore clear audio coverage to the rear rows, recalls Busza.

The flagship Arrow Group Innovation Hall’s unique 360° seating arrangement challenged the team to find an audio solution that provides the same professional audio quality. “The hexagon-shaped room has six sections of seats with six rows each, meaning lectures take place ‘in the round’”, explains Busza. “Six angled walls above the sections house large direct-view LED videos. In the center where the lecture is delivered, the ceiling is higher and more open. The first two rows of seats are exposed to this large space, while the rest are positioned under a lower ceiling. The room’s layout meant a suspended cluster of loudspeakers would impact sightlines for the displays and fail to reach the rear audience rows”, Busza continues. “Instead, the decision was made to mount point-source cabinets along the bottom of the central perimeter with five loudspeakers along each bulkhead – three aimed toward the rear of the audience and two aimed toward the front”.

Global USS opted for CX61 loudspeakers due to their 150° horizontal and 60° vertical dispersion, their compact form working well in such a confined space. “This meant the front section of the audience would receive sound from behind; there was no other manageable solution in the space”, says Busza. “However, the exceptional performance characteristics for which Renkus-Heinz is renowned would still ensure high intelligibility”.

The six Sam Ibrahim Building theaters are now equipped to host lectures with crystal-clear speech and no distracting reverberation. With impeccable audio as a cornerstone, the University of Toronto Scarborough is setting new standards for educational environments.

Renkus-Heinz UBX8 and CX61 loudspeakers deliver the precision and clarity needed to ensure students can hear every word, helping them stay engaged while professors can be confident their presentations will be impactful.

I’ve worked with UofT for quite a few years on several projects now. Blake Markle is great to work with. It was an accomplishment working together to get through all of the construction, site condition, and design hurdles and deliver the systems to the university’s satisfaction, notes Busza.