BERN, Switzerland – The Bern Minster cathedral, a work in progress from the start of construction in 1421 until the 100+ meter tower was completed in 1893, now has a new sound system as well. Designed and installed by Kilchenmann AG, it features 33 Pan Acoustics P 8-15-Pi speakers and Symetrix Radius 12×8 to optimize vocal intelligibility and music reinforcement.
More details from Pan Acoustics (www.pan-acoustics.de):
Project: Berner Münster, Bern
History
History of the reformed Berner Münster.
It was dedicated in the late Middle Ages to St. Vincent of Saragossa, and is the largest and most important late-medieval church of Switzerland. It was built in the Gothic style and is one of those Gothic churches, which could be completed in the 19th century after emergence of Historicism.
The choir of the cathedral holds a, from the 15th-century cycle, stained glass window, which, together with that of the former convent Church Königsfelden as History is considered to be the most important of Switzerland.
The Berner Münster is recorded in 1983 in the World Heritage list of UNESCO.
According to the requirements, the renovation of the electro-acoustic sound of this church is verysophisticated.
Starting point
The starting point was a neutral submission through the entire replacement of audio system from the 1980s. The sound lines proposed in the offer input should be good for speech and music, and were measured by the EMPA prior to the award of the contract in the Church and analyzed. The reverberation time of 6 seconds made the demand after a STI; 0.6, to one of the most difficult criteria. The measurement results of the offered sound lines served as main basis for the decision.
The design
The in Switzerland operating company Kilchenmann AG, with its headquarters in Berne ,was awarded for its sophisticated overall concept.
The sound system
In the nave, 33 passive Pan Beam PB 8-15 were planned, convinced in addition to the extremely high speech intelligibility, they were also chosen for their visual optics of these slim loudspeaker systems.
For conservation reasons, the tolerance in the optical aspects of the new sound system was very small. As well as it was with the wiring, which largely had to be taken over, the weighing of just 5kg and very slender sound pillars with their 16 x 2.1 ” drivers and the long stroke chassis convinced the installation team due to its simple and yet versatile mounting options.
An optimal and constant coverage of the audience area was achieved with the extremely wide angle of 140°.
Signal processing
The signal processing and distribution are Symetrix DSP’s used with Dante modules. In addition to the Equalization and time alignment, as well as management of all outputs (speakers, induction loop and recording) all input signals (Microphones and players) controlled mixed and sent to the appropriate destinations by the DSP’s.
Operation
The system can be controlled from two locations. The requirement here was to retrieve possible multiple defaults, switch zones and regulate various input and output volume. Here the experienced integrators by Kilchenmann resorted to the on-board means by Symetrix and programmed SymVue surfaces for the corresponding touch screen panels.
Products
Pan Acoustics, Pan Speaker 33 x P 8-15-Pi
Symetrix Radius 12×8
