Polish church installs K-Array
Published: WORSHIP
WORLD: Gdansk’s Corpus Christi Church was built in the 1990s and is the second largest church in Poland. Its marble floors, large balconies and 2,000 sq-m floor space represents a considerable challenge in terms of sound reinforcement, particularly due to the reverberation time.
After many years of testing 100V audio systems, the pastor decided to contact Mega Music to install a quality sound system. In addition to addressing the acoustic problems, the designers had to evaluate the aesthetics of the installation. The church’s interior is totally white, making traditional black speakers inappropriate. Mega Music immediately chose to use the white version of K-Array’s Python speaker which met the needs of the ear and of the eye.
After careful design projects and careful evaluation with simulation software, the main system was mounted using two arrays comprising six KP52 Python on each side, set at about 10m above the floor, and dedicated to the central altar. Three KP52W were used as side fill, essential to the very broad shape of the church. Mega Music installed 11 KP52W horizontally under the balcony, in Flood mode, with a necessary delay time to integrate their sound emission to the main system.
‘We decided to use the same speakers throughout the church to maintain uniformity and sound,’ said Dariusz Adamowicz, president of Mega Music. ‘Thanks to the switch Flood/Spot, we could very easily mount the speakers under the balcony in a horizontal position, thus obtaining good space coverage. Moreover, the compactness of K-Array systems has allowed us to obtain an almost invisible installation without compromising quality. Finally, we have already prepared some guidelines for monitoring the balcony where the organ resides. The speakers will be retrofitted since the balcony was recently added to the plan and is still under construction.’
The Pythons alone have proved to be perfect for ‘every day’ needs but sometimes the Church of Corpus Christi is also used for concerts or spiritual events. On these occasions, four KMT21P subwoofers can be integrated in the system, to give a greater sound depth.
‘The result is better than we could have hoped,’ said Mr Adamowicz. ‘We have reached 60per cent sound intelligibility at 100dB SPL throughout the congregation area. A great step forward compared to previous systems, and finally the Church is equipped with an audio system worthy of its function.’