West Gates


ProjectWest Gates at Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International AirportLocationLos Angeles, CA USAManufacturersRenkus-Heinz, Inc. USAInstallerDirect AVSubmitted byRenkus-Heinz, Inc.

As the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) goes through a multi-year renovation to ensure passengers have a safe, comfortable, and seamless travel experience, the new West Gates at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX was a top priority. The newly constructed terminal needed to provide intelligible and articulate audio coverage as passengers move throughout the gates and surrounding areas.

To ensure the safe and quick travel of passengers at LAX West Gates, LA-based integration firm Direct AV relied on Renkus-Heinz loudspeaker solutions. The team chose a mix of more than 30 Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Gen 5 loudspeakers including IC8, IC16 and IC32 arrays for installation throughout the terminal.

The Iconyx Gen 5 from Renkus-Heinz is a digitally steerable loudspeaker array that combines digital control and steering with exceptional audio fidelity. Integrating high-performance acoustical components with advanced audiophile quality digital electronics and powerful software in a practical, modular system, the physical loudspeakers disappear into the terminal while providing exceptional sound quality.

With the integration of Iconyx Gen 5 loudspeakers into the LAX West Gate terminal, passengers are met with crisp audio wherever they are in the terminal. The Iconyx beam steering from Renkus-Heinz produces precise beam control meaning running to gates, missing flights and overall confusion is a thing of the past.

As travel reemerges for many around the world, quality audio is mission critical in airports and other transportation hubs. Imagine you arrive to the airport for an international flight, you have time to spare so you grab a bite to eat at the restaurant next to your gate, but they announce over the intercom that the gate is changed to a new terminal. You don’t hear this announcement as the loudspeakers produce a distorted, unintelligible announcement in the boisterous and busy airport restaurant. Suddenly, you’re late for your flight and running through the airport all due to poor audio.

That’s the main challenge for any airport— finding a loudspeaker solution that will not only project clearly into a quiet space but cut through the noise to gain passenger attention for crucial announcements. With the LAX West Gates, the challenges were a bit deeper.

The terminal features high ceilings, reflective glass walls, hard reflective floors, and high levels of ambient noise. The primary goal for LAX was to produce a high level of speech intelligibility for passengers within a concourse where conflicting elements inhibited the facilitation of audio coverage and clarity.

To overcome the inherent challenges of the airport’s beautiful architecture without compromising the architectural integrity, LAX worked closely with Direct AV and Renkus-Heinz to install a mix of more than 30 Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Gen 5 loudspeakers including IC8, IC16 and IC32 arrays.

Because of additional architectural constraints, the Iconyx loudspeakers had to be mounted relatively high on adjacent walls at around 12 feet above the finished floor level. Using conventional loudspeakers would have compromised the direct to reverberant sound – an unsatisfactory compromise.

Thus, the Iconyx digitally steerable loudspeakers were the sound solution for this space. Because of the fine tuning abilities of Iconyx, the sound is digitally steered down to the travelers rather than reflected to the walkways. This allows for remarkable sound quality to be produced and directed at passengers opposed to reflective surfaces. Renkus-Heinz beam steering technology within the Iconyx Series was the ideal solution to provide crisp and intelligible sound for travelers within LAX’s new Tom Bradley International Terminal.

The Iconyx Gen 5 arrays from Renkus-Heinz provide an elegant solution to long-standing acoustical challenges at LAX airport – with slim, attractive enclosures that blend into the environment. The speakers represent the latest in beam steering technology, integrating the power of advanced beam steering algorithms with the intuitive control of the Renkus-Heinz new system design software. The UniBeam technology has overcome difficult architectural constraints to ensure passenger announcements at LAX airport are clear and intelligible without compromising architectural integrity. Overcoming these architectural constraints is an outstanding technological breakthrough for Renkus-Heinz. This technological achievement has revolutionized sound steering and ensures passengers will no longer worry about missing a flight or important announcement again.

The fine-tuning ability and sound quality of digitally steerable loudspeakers provide crisp, intelligible, perfectly positioned sound while ensuring everyone in the LAX concourse hears the audio with clarity. The loudspeaker solutions from Renkus-Heinz offer controlled audio coverage and intelligibility, helping the airport’s thousands of daily bustling passengers stay on the move and up to date with important crisp, clear announcements, and communications. Had it not been for the outstanding technology of the Renkus-Heinz Iconyx loudspeaker solution, LAX airport would not possess the incredible sound quality that it does today. Thanks to Iconyx loudspeaker solutions from Renkus-Heinz, LAX is now ready for takeoff!