Dublin-based Sound Productions recently designed, supplied and commissioned a new JBL beam steering public address system for St. Agnes Catholic Church in the Parish of Crumlin.

Having installed the previous PA system around a decade ago, the new sound solution was specified as part of a complete church renovation project.  According to Sound Productions’ Senior Project Manager, Peadar Carley, the aim of the new system was to maintain and improve intelligibility using a more architecturally discreet solution.

“The renovation included the installation of new hard wood flooring which was previously carpeted — and with no absorbing surfaces, this meant that the RT would increase to 3-5 seconds. Therefore we needed a speaker system that would provide precise beam steering,” he said.

He turned to a pair of JBL Intellivox-DS280s, distributed in the UK and Eire by Sound Technology Ltd.  Capable of providing a constant sound pressure level over a distance of up to 35 m, the 16, custom designed, 4” loudspeakers are driven by an 8-channel Class-D amplifier, powered by a sophisticated switched mode power supply.

The speakers are mounted left and right at the top of the nave, with Intellivox V90 fills left and right midway down on the side wall.  The speakers are primarily used as a speech reinforcement system for the fixed altar, lectern and radio mics, as well as reinforcement for the high choir and children’s choir.

In terms of system balancing, Peadar reports that “JBL produced an acoustic model to which they applied their DDA (Digital Directivity Analysis) software. This proved to be quite accurate in practice.

“With this DDA software we could produce a tailored radiation pattern that optimised coverage over the congregation plane [up to 750 maximum capacity] while restricting energy to reflective surfaces.”

Sound Productions also supplied the complete control system and microphones which included Soundcraft EPM series mixers for the choirs.

In conclusion Peadar Carley confirms that parish priest, Fr. Paul Tyrell, was extremely pleased with the result, as was the Architect, Ciaran Lynam.

For further information please contact HARMAN distributor Sound Technology Ltd on 01462 480000.