Martin Audio reinforces services at London’s Syrian Orthodox Church

UNITED KINGDOM: The community of Syriac Orthodox Christians in the United Kingdom has reportedly grown considerably in recent years. To meet the needs of an expanding congregation in England’s capital city, the Syrian Orthodox Church, which is described as ‘an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world’, recently reconfigured its London sanctuary.

Ahead of the church’s recent consecration, it put out a tender for the installation of a new sound solution to provide added reinforcement. This tender was won by Kent-based Old Barn Audio (OBA), largely due to its director, Neil Kavanagh, who has gained vast experience of installing solutions inside houses of worship.

‘I have fitted out more than 250 churches and have wide experience working in Grade 1-listed buildings,’ explains Mr Kavanagh. ‘Aesthetics were vitally important, and we would only specify Martin Audio for a project such as this.’

The Syrian Orthodox Church may not be a listed building itself, but it still presented the OBA team with the all too common challenges faced during HOW installs. The sanctuary accommodates up to 250 congregants.

The space was split into zones, each of which has been equipped with white versions of Martin Audio’s CDD solutions. Mr Kavanagh specified a total six CDD8 cabinets for the main nave, with one placed per side of the altar, while the remaining four are mounted down the length of the aisle. Meanwhile, due to the ceiling lowering along the side aisle, an additional CDD8 was deployed to ensure coverage. Outside the church, two CDD10-WR from Martin Audio’s Weatherised range were installed. These play the sound of bells when church is in service.

A Mackie DL1608 digital mixer is employed to control the audio solutions. It supports Wi-Fi connected devices, allowing for mixing to take place anywhere in the church, zoned via the mixer’s aux input. The two external CDD10-WR units are activated by a dedicated amplifier channel that receives its feed from the DL1608’s EQ’d and compressed aux output.

On the visual side, two 65-inch UHD screens are located to the sides of the altar, supported by a pair of 32-inch screens. In the overflow room, a 50-inch LCD screen displays services taking place in the main sanctuary.

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www.oldbarnaudio.co.uk
www.syrianorthodoxchurch.net