ROCHESTER, MN – Intermedia Systems Group (ISG) specified Ashly NE-Series amplifiers during the recent renovation at St. Pius X Catholic Church. Along with reliable power, the networked components can be monitored and adjusted from ISG's offices in Burnsville, Minn.
Like many houses of worship, St. Pius X followed a haphazard path from the era predating sound reinforcement to today. The church was established in 1954 and moved into their present building a decade later. A rudimentary public address system was added in the 1970s, but as the church moved toward a mix choral music with classical instrumentation, such as violin, piano, and flute, the result was predictable.
As part of the church's renovation, ISG replaced the old sound system with a thoroughly modern one that provides even coverage across the audible spectrum.
Josh Jagdfeld, ISG vice president, worked closely with principal architect Carter Hord of Hord Architects (Memphis, Tenn.), parish administrator Denise DeRienzo, and director of liturgy Katie Stinson to design and install the new AV system for the church.
Along with a significant improvement in audio quality, the new system is easy to operate, with touchscreen control and ISG's remote support, and the upgrade came with a competitive price.
The church is roughly split into four main seating areas. Jagdfeld arranged four EAW co-axial speaker cabinets to cover them seamlessly. RCF loudspeakers provide delay coverage for the balcony and cry rooms, and BIAMP Nexia DSP provides intelligent control of the system.
If the church is hosting a smaller event, for example, unused zones may be muted so as not to unnecessarily excite the acoustics of the room. Four new Audio-Technica 4000-series wireless microphone systems provide modern inputs that combine the convenience of wireless with fidelity that matches the rest of the system.
Two Ashly ne1600 two-channel amps provide 400 watts of power per channel to each of the four main EAW speakers. One Ashly ne4250 four-channel amp provides 150 watts of power per channel to the RCF delays.
"We love the feature set and price of the Ashly amps," said Jagdfeld. "And there is no other comparably-priced amp out there that hooks up so easily to a network. That's a big part of what we provide to our clients; remote access is essential. If something breaks or something is misconfigured, we want to be calling the church with a fix before they even know there's a problem. The Ashly NE-Series amps are a key part of that service.
"At ISG, we pride ourselves on avoiding ‘cookie-cutter' designs," Jagdfeld added. "Everything we do is very intentional, and as a result we are very choosy about selecting specific equipment for particular applications. If it doesn't fit, we look elsewhere.
"That said, the Ashly amps have proven to be so flexible and reliable that they find their way into almost every job. Since Ashly introduced the PE-Series a year ago, we've put in a huge number of Ashly NE- and PE-Series amps, and we have yet to have a single problem with any of them."
Of course, people who think about sound all day assume that the visual aesthetics of a sound system play a distant second to its audio performance, if they think about the visual aesthetics at all. But clients don't think about sound all day and so the visual aesthetics do matter.
ISG worked closely with Hord Architects to guarantee that St. Pius X's new system would be easy on the eyes as well as the ears. They custom tailored all of the hardware and color-matched the finishes on all the exposed elements of the system.
For more information, please visit www.ashly.com.
