YOUNGSTOWN, OH – In mid-1981, the parishioners of Saint Brendan Church dedicated their sanctuary with pride. The building featured ornate architecture, color schemes and high ceilings.
But while the room's four-second reverb time made for a majestic choir and organ sound, the drums and guitars of the church's contemporary services were a challenge to tame. And for sermons and spoken word presentations, the intelligibility factor was more than a little problematic.
The church needed a solution that would cut through the mud without impacting the room's aesthetics, and found it in Community Entasys loudspeakers.
"They had tried a number of other systems over the years, but it usually involved conventional speaker cabinets flown too high to achieve any directionality," said Jay Dunkle of Radi-O-Sound Communications. "Intelligibility was a major issue for them, particularly since they don't follow along in a missallete, so they rely solely on the spoken word."
Four Entasys cabinets cover an audience area of approximately 40 feet by 60 feet. The loudspeakers are powered by a single EV CPS-series amplifier, with Biamp DSP providing automixing and EQ functions.
"Since the Entasys cabinets are true line arrays, they provide a very even distribution of the sound for long throws, and their directivity eliminates nearly all the reflected sound," Dunkle noted. "Being able to cover the whole space with only four cabinets also helped tremendously in increasing intelligibility."
Matching the room's aesthetics was another priority. "We sprayed the cabinets using the same color paint that was on the walls," said Dunkle. "They really look great."
Dunkle noted that the church and congregation are pleased with the results. "The sound system literally received an ovation from the parishioners," he said.
For more information, please visit www.communitypro.com.
