Crystal clear speech inside protected Birmingham church
Large, open spaces, hard walls and high ceilings make it difficult to amplify speech effectively in historic church buildings. To ensure that sermons and other spoken elements of the service are crystal clear, without impacting on sightlines or the appearance of the building, one Birmingham church has deployed innovative d&b loudspeaker technologies.
As light streams in through stained glass windows it can transform the appearance of floors and walls. So often made from stone or brick, these imposing slabs tend to be enclosed by an exceptionally high ceiling, which invites people to look upwards. Visually, the result can create a sense of spiritual occasion and wonder.
While pleasing to the eye, these physical characteristics can make churches less engaging from an acoustic point of view. A large open area with hard surfaces will always result in the same problem: multiple reflections and an extremely reverberant space. This creates a particular church sound and brings out the best of the organ and choir. However, it can also compromise the quality of sermons, and other spoken addresses, especially in terms of the clarity, or otherwise, of speech.
These were some of the issues facing St Stephen’s, a late 19th century church in Selly Park, Birmingham. As part of a multi-million pound redevelopment of its structure and facilities, this Grade II listed building recently decided to tackle its acoustic challenges head on.
It was d&b audiotechnik installation partner, Southby Productions, based in High Wycombe, who recommended a sound reinforcement solution from d&b. Andy Walker, from St Stephen’s, says: “I was aware that d&b loudspeaker technology was being used at high profile Christian events in the UK where the system design and installation was coordinated by Southby Productions. We had been advised that the quality of speech and music reinforcement was excellent and I hoped that we would be able to achieve similar results in our church building.”
The brief was clear; St Stephen’s needed an audio system that would vastly improve speech intelligibility but could also be mounted out of the congregation’s line of sight. The solution proposed by Southby Productions was based around the 24C column loudspeakers from the d&b xC-Series.
The 24Cs house six 4” low/mid drivers along with a HF array comprising of six 1.1” soft dome tweeters. While all column loudspeakers exhibit pattern control in the vertical plane, the xC-Series feature a unique passive cardioid setup. This results in a broadband attenuation towards the rear of 18 dB, greatly reducing reflections, and increasing gain before feedback when working with open microphones.
Read more: Crystal clear speech inside protected Birmingham church
