Focused Sound
Jan 15, 2013 5:00 PM
Since its founding in 1891, Holy Spirit Catholic Church has held a special place in the hearts of Philadelphia-area residents. In the early years of the 2oth century, the church forged a reputation as one of the few non-segregated churches and parochial schools in the region.
Dedicated in 1961, the current sanctuary is resplendent with woodcarvings, wrought iron, and stained glass, making it an acoustically challenging space. As Tony Albano of Avondale, Pa.-based Naamans Creek Audio Video explains, the room’s configuration is anything but ordinary.
“It’s a very different type of room,” he says. “The chapel itself is surrounded by smaller sub-chapels. The walls are largely brick, and the ceiling is about 30ft. high at its peak. It’s a complex space, and very reflective, and they’ve always had problems with intelligibility.”
To address the room’s sonic issues, Albano designed an audio system comprising four Community Entasys loudspeakers. Two more Entasys provide delay toward the back of the room. A Crown CTS-4200 4-channel amplifier drives the system, with Rane RPM-88 providing system DSP.
“Their previous system had been pretty problematic,” he says. “Parishioners complained about loud volume but low intelligibility, particularly along the center seating areas. The Entasys columns were the ideal solution for focusing the sound away from the walls and windows and into the seating area where it belongs. Several of the church’s long-time parishioners have said that it’s the first time they could actually understand the priest’s sermon.”
PRODUCT AT WORK: Community Professional Entasys
The Entasys three-way, full-range column-line-array loudspeaker system is a compact weather-resistant package designed for permanent installation applications including auditoria, airports and train stations, conference centers, houses of worship, stadium concourses, and museums. The system offers high output and high power handling capability as well as multiple low-frequency, midrange, and high-frequency drivers to delivering a uniform, constant vertical beamwidth from 800Hz to 16kHz.
