Omaha Art Space Gets Focused with Renkus-Heinz

Kaneko Bow Truss Room Outfitted with Renkus-Heinz Self-Powered Speakers  

Omaha, NE, November 2010. Founded by renowned artist/sculptor Jun Kaneko, the Kaneko organization is a public non-profit established to provide a space and resource for creative arts in the Omaha area.

The Bow Truss Room is a large open gallery space that's described as "not a museum, gallery, library nor research center, but an open space for open minds that nurtures and promotes creativity in the arts, sciences and philosophy." The space hosts a wide range of programs, performances, exhibits and presentations, ranging from artists' exhibitions and lectures to music and dance.


The space, designed by Los Angeles architect Mark Mack, joins three warehouses together via a glass and steel atrium, creating a light and airy environment that is exceptionally conducive to the arts. One of the buildings, a former truck garage, has been converted into the Bow Truss Room, a large flexible 92,000-square-foot space with concrete floor and walls and a high, curved ceiling. It's an acoustically live space with more than enough reflective surfaces to make intelligibility an issue.


Audio for the hall was designed by Chicago-based Threshold Acoustics LLC, who specified four Renkus-Heinz PN82 self-powered two-way loudspeakers to cover the space. The system was installed and commissioned by Direct Pro Audio of Omaha.


"The room is exceptionally challenging, acoustically, with lots of hard, reflective surfaces," says Direct Pro Audio's John Manhart who, along with DPA's Dan Allen, performed the installation. "The PN82's tight focus contributed to the overall even distribution of sound, and the built-in amplification and RHAON processing let us precisely tune the system to meet the challenging requirements of this room. The Renkus-Heinz speaker voicing sounds amazing, and there is plenty of headroom and clarity in the system."


The space and the system made their debut with a night of music and conversation starring musician Roseanne Cash and noted musicologist Dr. Daniel Levitin.