Worship Space

Venue Size:

750

Project Scope:

Sound System Upgrade

Description

The parish of St. Thomas Aquinas contacted us to participate in the bid for the installation of a sound system that would provide consistent, quality sound for the variety of speakers and music styles presented at each Mass. The main complaint was the unintelligible sound from the pulpit. This octagon shaped building, made of concrete and wood decorated with many stained glass windows, is a highly reverberant space. An under-sized mixing board was virtually inaccessible during services preventing real time adjustments. Also, a strong concern was the room’s aesthetics; so speakers had to be hung 25 feet above the floor so as not to distract from the beauty of the worship environment.

Using acoustic modeling software we were able to design a speaker configuration for maximum sound coverage and clarity for all areas in the sanctuary. We installed six speaker cabinets from the ceiling, running through a multi-processor, allowing each speaker to be equalized at its ideal setting, and delayed to minimize the echo problem that had plagued the previous system. We also installed six flush mounted back-fill speakers for sound reinforcement in the low-ceilinged walkway that rims the room. Finally, at the rear of the sanctuary we installed a 32-channel digital soundboard in an oak roll-top sound desk. The digital mixing board is the key, as it enables the customer to instantly access individual presets for the different types of services. This new system ties into the adjacent Parish Hall where, we previously installed a LCD projector and sound system, which provides both audio and video feed from the main sanctuary.