BALTIMORE — The Church of the Redeemer, which dates from 1858, features soaring ceilings and ornate wood and glass. Like other 19th century structures, it can take your breath away — but it can also hinder intelligibility and musical performances for listeners in the back pews with a reverb of well over a second. As the Church of the Redeemer’s congregation has grown, the 400-seat venue has seen increased demand, including the addition of contemporary services to complement their traditional ones.
Joseph Schwartz of HP Electronics noted how that demand eventually led to the installation of a new sound system centered around a pair of Community Entasys line array loudspeakers.
“We had originally been discussing the idea of a small line array, but during the time the church was raising the funds for the project, Community’s Entasys appeared on the scene,” Schwartz said. “We’d heard a demo of it during InfoComm and knew it was worth a closer look.”
Crown CDi2000 amplification powers the system, which also includes a Biamp Nexia to provide automatic mixing, leveling, EQ and feedback control.
An AKG CK47/GN30 microphone resides on the lectern, just a few feet from the loudspeaker column, and a Shure ULX-series wireless is also in regular use.
“Given the lively acoustics of the room, we were initially concerned about getting adequate gain before feedback, but the Entasys was exceptionally easy to tune,” said Schwartz. “The celebrant was boasting to one of the techs recently that he could point his lavalier mic right at the speaker from only inches away and not get any feedback, and happily demonstrated it to him.”
For musical performance, a pair of Community VLF208 subwoofers provides ample bottom end to the system.
“We chose the VLF subs for their compact size and ability to easily stack,” said Schwartz. “We had to place them under a pew on the platform, which reduces their output slightly, but they sound great and can’t be seen, so both the musicians and the traditionalists are happy.”
A separate feed from the mixer is provided so an instrument can be dialed into the subwoofer as much or as little as desired, thereby keeping the microphone feed out of the subwoofers for better performance.
The Entasys cabinets were custom-painted to help them blend in with the chapel’s architecture. “The speakers are actually less noticeable than the molding of the proscenium they sit next to,” said Schwartz. “We’ve received many compliments on both the look and the sound. Entasys really was an ideal solution.”
For more information, please visit www.communitypro.com.
