Luther College Chapel upgrades with One Systems
Published: WORSHIP
AUSTRALIA: A recent audio upgrade of the chapel at Luther College in Croydon has seen One Systems loudspeakers installed to complete the distributed system by providing under balcony coverage in the sanctuary. The system was installed by South Melbourne-based Factory Sound.
The horseshoe-shaped chapel has a two-tiered seating plan which holds 400 students. A floor-to-ceiling leadlight window located behind the altar is the prominent visual focus of the sanctuary and the church leadership wanted it kept that way. In other words – loudspeakers should be heard but not seen. This specific requirement is what drove the design of the system.
‘Because the school’s leadership team was very specific about keeping sightlines to the leadlight clear from any seat in the house, conventional arrays were out of the question,’ explained Daniel Thomas, Factory Sound’s head of installation. ‘We had to strike a compromise between keeping the loudspeakers out-of-sight and maximising the direct-to-reverberant ratio. There was up to 4s RT60 at low frequencies and limited hanging points, which made it a challenge.
‘The final design was settled after detailed EASE acoustic modelling, and several discussions with Luther College’s Music, Finance and IT staff about ways to maximize their budget for the project,’ continued Mr Thomas.
Two rings of loudspeakers were installed to ensure coverage for every seat in the house. The ring dedicated to under-balcony fill consists of 14 One Systems 103IM loudspeakers. The new sound reinforcement system is powered by MC2 amps and XTA processors. The system was voiced and time aligned by Simon Tait of CMI and Daniel Thomas.
‘The school is very happy with the result,’ said Mr Thomas. ‘The venue now caters to everything from sermons to rock ensemble performances and receives many compliments on the sound.’