WILMINGTON, DE – St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Parish celebrated its first mass on June 1, 1908. After more than a century, the original parish has been joined by the main church, a rectory, a convent and a K-12 school. The stone church features 50-foot ceilings and marble tracery. As with many older sanctuaries, it was designed more for the organ and choir than for intelligibility of the spoken word.
Attempts over the years to improve the church's intelligibility with installed sound systems have been ineffectual at best. "They've been through a number of systems over the years," said Anthony Albano of Avondale, Penn.-based Naamans Creek Audio/Video.
Finally, frustration with their last system led to an accidental solution. "They were hosting a special mass led by the Catholic Bishop, and they decided to rent a temporary system rather than even trying to use their existing one," said Albano. The rented system worked well enough that St. Elizabeth's pastor decided to purchase a similar system for permanent installation.
"Prior to giving the go-ahead to purchase the new system, Naamans AV was invited to provide a proposal to install a system," noted Albano. Based on previous installs using Community gear, Albano suggested arranging a demonstration of Community's Entasys three-way column line array system.
"We came out and analyzed the room, and set up a temporary system using two Entasys columns on either side of the altar, and one more on either side as delays," Albano added. Two Community VLF212WP subwoofers completed the system.
Albano said the church's project manager was impressed. "The Entasys system outperformed the rented system, hands down."
With its slim, low-profile design, Entasys also addressed the church's aesthetic needs. "The Entasys speakers are almost invisible in their permanent mounted positions," Albano said. "We mounted a second set on either side of the back wall to cover the rear balcony section. Again, they blend in so well that they're actually hard to find."
Albano added that Naamans Creek has received numerous compliments on the sound quality. "One statement we've heard several times is that the assisted listening system is being used far less frequently," he noted, adding that, shortly after commissioning the system, a representative from another historic church, St. Anthony of Padua, approached Naaman's Creek to install an Entasys system at their facility. "Installing Community loudspeakers is a great calling card for future business," he concluded.
For more information, please visit www.communitypro.com .
