OMNILINE UPGRADE AT MOST HOLY ROSARY CHURCH

Brown Sound Equipment Company recently installed a Martin Audio OmniLine array in Syracuse's historic Most Holy Rosary Church to upgrade the sound system and meet current standards for articulation and clarity.

Part of Most Holy Rosary Parish founded in 1913, the church dates back to the site's original groundbreaking in 1927 through over 60 years of growth and expansion resulting in today's remarkable construction that is central to the Catholic community in Syracuse.

Asked about the installation, Brown Sound President Jim Messinger begins by acknowledging that, 'Having been in this business for over 45 years, it's most satisfying when a customer repeats with you as in this installation at Most Holy Rosary Church; and that the technologies we now have at our disposal really do make a tremendous difference in outcomes.

'The Martin Audio OmniLine replaces a huge custom central cluster point source system we designed in 1991. The reverb time was the same then as it is now, approaching 4 seconds. These clusters with large long throw horns were the only 'tools' we had at the time to minimize splashing sound all over the place and still throw the energy 135' to the last pew. Unfortunately, the cluster was large, ugly, black, and a visual distraction in front of that beautiful artwork above the altar. It also was a major challenge to install given the height, 53 feet to the peak of the Church. Everything had to be installed with a system of winches above the dome.'

Messinger recalls the OmniLine solution came down to 'a matter of timing. I'd played with the idea of column type line arrays, but the church didn't want the system to visually intrude on the altar and worship area. After a Martin Audio sales rep recommended OmniLIne, we did a demo at the church with a single module and it sounded very good; even in a big empty space.'

The installation is built around a 16-enclosure OmniLine array so compact, it is barely visible in the dome above the altar. A Mackie DL1608 iPad-controlled mixer replaces a 'cumbersome' analog console for the music ministry microphones.

Messinger reports that Martin Audio's array guide software made 'assembly of the modules in this array extremely easy. The mechanics of the assembly are also well thought out and engineered. The coverage also allowed us to eliminate all of the original sidefill delay speakers.'

Summing up, Jim adds, 'The bottom line is always comes down to 'how does it sound?' I attended a service when the pews were approximately 65% filled. Even after 45 years of listening to results, I was honestly impressed at how good, how articulate, and how natural the Martin Audio OmniLine sounded in this space. I've been in the business a long time and frankly I wasn't expecting to be this impressed.

'The Director of Music mentioned that his choir members are very impressed with the system, they hear everything a lot better because there's been so much of an improvement in articulation and clarity.'