Well established in the field of scintillator detection, Caesium Iodide remains at the forefront of scintillators for use in modern calorimeters. Recent developments in photosensor technology have lead to the production of Large Area Avalanche Photo Diodes (LAAPDs), a huge advancement on traditional photosensors in terms of high internal gain, dynamic range, magnetic field insensitivity, high quantum efficiency and fast recovery time. The R 3 B physics programme has a number of requirements for its calorimeter, one of the most challenging being the dual functionality as both a calorimeter and a spectrometer. This involves the simultaneous detection of ∼300 MeV protons and gamma rays ranging from 0.1 to 20 MeV. This scintillator – photosensor coupling provides an excellent solution in this capacity, in part due to the near perfect match of the LAAPD quantum efficiency peak to the light output wavelength of CsI(Tl). Modern detector development is guided by use of Monte Carlo simulations to predict detector performance, nonetheless it is essential to benchmark these simulations against real data taken with prototype detector arrays. Here follows an account of the performance of two such prototypes representing different polar regions of the Barrel section of the forthcoming CALIFA calorimeter. Measurements were taken for gamma–ray energies up to 15.1 MeV (Maier-Leibnitz Laboratory, Garching, Germany) and for direct irradiation with a 180 MeV proton beam (The Svedberg Laboratoriet, Uppsala, Sweden). Results are discussed in light of complementary GEANT4 simulations. & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.