GERMAN CHURCH CELEBRATES CENTENARY WITH OMNILINE

Christ's Church, in the German town of Velbert, North Rhine Westphalia, recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone.

To celebrate this historic occasion, the church decided to invest in a thoroughly modern sound system - based around the first Martin Audio OmniLine system to be installed in a German church, powered exclusively by Crest Audio amplification with processing via an Architectural Acoustics Digitool MX programmable digital processor.

Christ's Church, Velbert is reputed to be one of the most significant 'Jugendstil' or art nouveau churches in western Germany. Designed by architect Carl Krieger with interior design by Franz Brantzsky, the 900-seater church affords worshippers a completely unimpeded view of the altar, font, pulpit and organ, thanks to the fact that Krieger avoided using any columns as internal supports.

The hall itself offers excellent acoustics, while the organ, built in 1909, was refurbished in 2005. However, for the main services as well as the diverse cultural activities hosted by the church such as classical and choral concerts, readings etc., it was felt that church would benefit from the installation of a professional audio system in order to fully optimise the acoustic qualities of the building.

Technical project manager, Thomas Meckel of art veranstaltungstechnik, explained that he strongly advised against a 'typical' loudspeaker installation as it would have meant having cables and loudspeakers compromising the architecture of such a wonderful listed building.

Thus he specified four OmniLine arrays, with six modules in each. Two were for the nave of the church, the other two covered the gallery so that the sound energy could be directed precisely to the area required.

'The fact that there are no columns in the nave of Christ's Church worked to our advantage, as it offered an ideal backdrop for the OmniLine system, which covers long distances very easily,' he explained. 'Furthermore, the natural sound impression is enhanced by the use of just a single column of loudspeakers as the sound comes directly from the speaker and not from a source beside the pew, which is extremely distracting for the congregation.

'Lastly, the OmniLine speakers work very well from an aesthetic point of view. The arrays are elegant and unobtrusive, which is ideal for this sort of environment.'

When live bands appear, a pair of Martin Audio S12 subs can be activated to provide LF extension. And to put the icing on the cake, monitoring is via a pair of Martin Audio AQ5's, stationed at the organ and chorus tribune.

Further information from:


Maureen Hayes, Martin Audio Jerry Gilbert, JGP Public Relations
Tel: +44 (0)1494 535312 Tel: +44 (0)1707 258525
Fax: +44 (0)1494 438669 Fax: +44 (0)1707 267140
E: maureenh@martin-audio.com jerry.gilbert@ntlworld.com