Wartburg College Neumann Auditorium_Case Study_LT0118B Auditorium Case Study LT0118B

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Wartburg College Revitalizes Neumann Auditorium
With Wenger’s Transcend™ Active Acoustic System
“The recruitment benefit could be substantial. The joke
around here used to be that using the phrase ‘state of
the art’ and ‘Neumann Auditorium’ in the same sentence was unheard of. It could really transform the
way we market the college.”
— Dr. Lee Nelson
Director of Choral Activities, Wartburg College

Transcend™ Active Acoustic System
Challenge
Enhance the acoustics of Wartburg College’s dated, problematic Neumann Auditorium to become a showplace for the school’s
music programs

Wenger Solution
Install Wenger’s state-of-the-art Transcend™ Active Acoustic System

8 0 0 - 4 W E N G E R ( 4 9 3 - 6 4 3 7 ) • wengercorp.com/transcend

“Wenger has always responded to our needs, and
were very accommodating. They were extremely
thorough when looking at what it was going to take
to put this project together.”
— Don Meyer
Senior Gift Planner, Wartburg College

Neumann Auditorium after installation
Benefits
• Revitalize Neumann Auditorium for
any type of musical or non-musical
performance
• Minimally invasive, cost-effective
installation with fewer microphones
than competing options
• Ability to custom tailor an acoustic
experience with a set of easy presets
• Creative flexibility to create music
programming not possible with
conventional technology
• Offer musicians and audience
members a performance like they’ve
never experienced before

Great performers demand the best
from themselves, and facilities that
support their art with the proper
acoustics can elevate those
performances to the highest level.
“With singing and with playing
an instrument, so much of it is
psychological. If the room’s not
helping you sing or project your
sound, you start working harder and
using poor technique,” says Dr. Lee
Nelson, Director of Choral Activities at
Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
For Nelson and the Wartburg Choir,
the lack of proper acoustics meant
that they’ve had to avoid the school’s
largest performance space. Neumann
Auditorium, an outdated, mid-century
building, was originally built for
convocations and religious services.

Because Neumann was constructed to
host spoken-word events, its acoustics
are extremely dry.
Unfortunately for the choir, a dry
acoustical space is far from the
cavernous, cathedral-like spaces for
which classical choral works were
intended. Also, the lack of feedback
hinders the choir and the director. It’s
a problem many colleges and high
schools face: no performance venue is
ideal for all types of ensembles.
“If it’s good for the band, it’s bad
for the choir. If it’s good for the
choir, it’s bad for the band,” says
Nelson. “[Neumann] is good for our
instrumental ensembles, not great for
the orchestra and downright terrible for
the choir. We just don’t perform there.
It’s unusable.”

The Future Of Acoustics
While the acoustics of a reverberant
room can be tamed with traditional
sound absorption solutions, it’s
been impossible to create a more
reverberant space in a dry acoustical
environment – until now.
Wenger, the world’s leader in
live-performance technology, has
partnered with the legendary audio
company HARMAN Professional
to create the groundbreaking
Wenger Transcend™ Active
Acoustic System. Transcend uses
a system of microphones, expertly
placed speakers, and digital signal
processing to create a customizable
acoustic environment that can
be optimized for both choral and
instrumental performances and ensure
that every audience member—even

those under the balcony—enjoys great
sound quality.
This is accomplished through a
process called “active acoustics.”
Microphones take in the direct sound
in the room and sends it to the digital
signal processor, which creates
a more reverberant space using
strategically located speakers placed
throughout the venue.
Although the technology behind
Transcend is complex, the user can
switch between acoustic presets
through a simple touch-screen
interface. Suddenly, the acoustically
dead Neumann Auditorium can sound
as lively as a grand cathedral. If that
seems too good to be true, Nelson
can relate. He didn’t believe Wenger’s
technology could live up to its

promises until he heard it during a tour
of a Wenger installation at Wayzata
High School in Minnesota.
“I was very skeptical about this
technology,” he says. “When I went
into the Wayzata rehearsal room, I
expected to hear sounds coming
out of the speakers. That’s really my
biggest fear; that it’s going to sound
amplified. That’s what I don’t want.
When I walked in and they started
playing with the system on, I stood
as close as I could to a speaker. I
couldn’t hear it. It just sounded like the
room had reverb. I was blown away
by the authentic sound. You can make
it as wet or as dry as you want. My
skepticism went away pretty quickly,
and I got very excited about the
possibilities.”

The Transcend Advantage
By combining the technology and experience of two of the world’s most respected
professional performance companies, Wenger and HARMAN have created the
new standard in active acoustics with Transcend. By using “non-regenerative”
simulated acoustics, Transcend can produce the reverberance of a grand hall even
in small, dry venues. HARMAN’s advanced algorithms in digital signal processing,
along with Wenger’s input on the design during development, make Transcend
the most state-of-the-art active acoustics system on the market. Its efficient design
makes it possible to do all this with only two-to-four installed microphones (as
opposed to competing systems which can require dozens of mics). Transcend has
it all: state-of-the-art digital processing technology, easier installations and greater
value for the customer.

“You can simulate any acoustic you want.
It’s virtually limitless.”
— Dr. Lee Nelson
Director of Choral Activities, Wartburg College

Neumann Auditorium before installation
New Possibilities For An Old Venue
With Transcend installed, Neumann
Auditorium has been transformed
from a dated, problematic facility to
a showplace for Wartburg College’s
music programs. For the first time
in years, the band, orchestra and
choir can put on shows like their
annual homecoming and Christmas
programs together in the same venue.
Transcend also makes it possible to
perform classical pieces composed for
choir and orchestra, which had to be
avoided in the past due to concerns
about sound quality. Thanks to Wenger
and HARMAN, Neumann Auditorium
now offers musicians and audience
members a performance like they have
never heard before.
Transcend also offers something that
traditional acoustic treatments can’t do:

the creative flexibility to create music
programming that simply wouldn’t be
possible with conventional technology.
“You can simulate any acoustic you
want. It’s virtually limitless,” Nelson said.
“You could create a choral/orchestral
performance setting, a choral setting for
cathedral performances, and a setting
for a piano concerto—all within the same
concert if you wish. And, all settings
can be stored and recalled at any time.”
Transcend has also become a selling
point in the battle to attract talented
student performers, events and
concerts. Prior to the installation,
Neumann Auditorium’s less-than-ideal
acoustics were a drag on recruiting
efforts, and made it impossible to host
concerts by certain artists and bands.

“We’d rarely show our prospective
music majors the space,” revealed
Nelson, “because it wasn’t a good
place to perform.”
After the installation, Nelson is eager to
show off the capabilities of Transcend.
“Before, we had ensembles, festivals
and competitions that didn’t look at
Wartburg simply because there wasn’t
an appropriate performance venue,” he
said. “One of our biggest competitors
has a great performance venue. Now,
we can compete with that. It puts
Wartburg in a different league.”

One Space. Any Performance. Simply A Sound Investment.™

Wenger Experience Conquers Challenges
Neumann Auditorium is the first installation of Transcend in the U.S. The facility
presented a number of challenges to Wenger’s team of experts. The venue’s
grand pipe organ, located on a side wall, is highly problematic from an acoustical
standpoint. What’s more, the Transcend system must account for the fact that the
Wartburg Choir often sings from three different areas: the stage, the main floor
seats, and the balcony.
“Most auditoriums would just have to concentrate on the stage, when we truly use
the entire space,” says Nelson. “With every hurdle we throw at Wenger, they get
excited by the challenge and come up with some really unique and creative ideas.”
Wenger also had to carefully inspect Neumann’s infrastructure, which required
some significant work, including electrical upgrades and asbestos abatement.
“The Wenger team was extremely thorough,” said Don Meyer, Wartburg’s Senior
Gift Planner. “They looked at everything, including the electrical system. They were
up above the ceiling in the catwalk area. They looked into everything they needed
to and they’ve been very flexible.”

Enhance the acoustics of your
performance space - now at an
affordable price. Transcend™ Active
Acoustic System gives you the control
to enhance your sound environment
in virtually any space: performing arts
centers, auditoriums, theatres, opera
houses, arenas and worship spaces.
The Transcend system also makes it
easy for any type of performing group
to shine with the right acoustics.
Visit wengercorp.com/transcend or
contact us today 1.800.4.WENGER.

© 2015 Wenger Corporation, Printed in the U.S.A./LT0118B
© 2015 Wenger Corporation, Printed in the U.S.A./03-15/500



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