The Castle itself is a medieval fortress, completed in 1406, and designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO 20 years ago. This year, as part of an extensive reconstruction programme in the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, LAUDA Audio was asked to design and install a sound reinforcement system to support the permanent and temporary exhibitions that are to be hosted by this historic venue.
The church can accommodate around 300 people in its main hall, attending meetings and presentations, as well as concerts. However, with a ceiling height of 14 metres, the acoustics of this medieval building are demanding. Reverb time is approximately 6 seconds, which presented a big challenge for the audio system designers.
"Our most important design objective was to achieve uncompromised sound quality, and multifunctionality for the system," explains Marcin Popek of Lauda Audio, a pro-audio specialist company from nearby Gdansk which is also the Polish distributor of Nexo systems.
For the main system, Lauda Audio selected Nexo's compact Geo M6 line array, recognised for its exceptional speech intelligibility and smooth even coverage. Using elegant white cabinets, two arrays of 9x M620 modules are flown at a height of 6m to cover the long narrow Church interior - 9m in width, with a throw of 32m. Two LS600 subs per side were used for LF reinforcement, hidden from view.
A dynamic approach to audio-visual presentation called for a surround system, and for this, Lauda Audio has chosen Nexo's super-compact ID24 cabinets. Ten of these small units, with 90x40 directivity, have been installed on the side walls, where they are virtually invisible. They are set up to work as surround speakers with the main system, or independently controlled for use on exhibition projects. The twin 4" full-range ID24 loudspeakers are the perfect solution for this application, designed to be low profile while fitting into awkward and acoustically challenging spaces.
All the audio devices in the Church are connected on a Dante network, and controlled by a Yamaha MRX7-D mixer, using iPad remote control via the RS232 port of the RTI system.
(Jim Evans)
