New Sound System Installation Project – Sacred Heart Church in Waltham

Form Meets Function from Power Sound of New England

Speakers blend with the church aesthetics.

Power Sound of New England recently completed a sound system installation project at Sacred Heart Church in Waltham Massachusetts. Like all parishes, quality church sound is vital. For this Catholic Church, a PA sound system renovation was needed; in fact the church sound before the renovation was described as “virtually unintelligible”. Power Sound of New England, specializing in professional pro sound systems for worship, was chosen to consult and design and install new sound system.

The Project: The pastor, Rev. Dennis J. Wheatley needed the sound for both the spoken word and the music to be addressed in the new system design. Power Sound of New England designed a church sound system tailored to the parish’s specific needs. “The Mass features a choir so pro sound quality for singing voices is important. Their Life Teen Ministry is an integral part of the parish and its Services include a band. We integrated the musical component of the Masses into the system design. We created a church sound system to improve the clarity of music and the speaking voice”, said Power Sound of New England General Manager, Troy Jennings.

Sound Scenario Selector

Features: Pro sound equipment is an integral part of the PA sound system design. One component in particular offers an important benefit is the sound scenario selector, SSR. The pa sound system plan included the installation of remote controller has presets for small or large masses, for 16 choir microphones or the music ministry equipment amplification. The right sound –every time– for speech, song and music all in one custom church sound system. The technician, specializing in audio installation to manage church acoustics, programmed the SSR for the sound scenarios at the church, ex: large Mass, small Mass, 16 choir microphones on, full band performing, etc. The result is that both clergy and music ministry get the ideal sound settings every time. Ease of use is another feature essential to churches; the SSR is simply tuned, by a one-dial selector, to the setting desired.

Speakers - close up

Another feature of the church sound system is the installation of Bose Panaray® loudspeakers. Designed expressly for the worship space environment they project sound from multiple drivers within each speaker providing even intelligible sound throughout the worship space. From the first pew to the tenth to the last the sound is heard clearly and evenly.

“We are very pleased!

Your technicians were wonderful; they answered all of our questions. The congregation is quite receptive. Now they can all hear clearly - all the way to the last pews. A big difference from the old, unintelligible sound. The system is performing very, very well.”~ Rev. Dennis J. Wheatley, O.F.M.

 

Custom church sound systems are what set PSNE apart from typical AV dealers. Working with houses of worship since 1969, we understand the challenges of church acoustics and worship styles which gives us a unique advantage to designing effective sound system solutions for worship. And working to create systems with features as individual as the needs of each church means effective, reliable results for every church, every time.

To learn more about sound systems for churches you can visit Power Sound of New England’s website: http://powersoundne.com/worshipav.html. 

New Church Audio in this completely round worship space Custom design and sound system installation from Power Sound of New England

St. Thecla Church in Pembroke Massachusetts

Church Sound that makes the Word and the Music sound better than ever

 

St. Thecla Church; Pembroke, MA

The Project: Fr. McCarthy needed clearer church sound for his congregation. The worship space in this architecturally famed Massachusetts church is completely round and features a beautiful a one piece concrete dome ceiling with a cylindrical skylight. There is an unobstructed view throughout the nave as the church was designed and built without any interior columns. Though beautiful, this creates an “incredibly live” acoustical environment so projecting clear church sound evenly throughout the space has been a challenge.  The old sound system was “muddy” and “no one could hear.” Power Sound of New England was chosen to design a custom church audio tailored to the specific needs of both the Celebrants and the Music Ministry. . The sound system installation plan was designed to provide clear intelligible church sound evenly around the radial style pews.

Totally round space featuring a dome ceiling.

Church audio clarity meets aesthetic quality:  St. Thecla, a western Massachusetts Church, with its beautiful radial sanctuary featured unobstructed views throughout, so the visual impact of the church sound system is paramount. Speakers have been colored to blend with their environment and are virtually undetectable— in fact what stands out is not the 10-foot tower speakers but the greatly improved church sound quality they project.  

Professional speakers are 10’ feet tall & just 4 “wide

A Customized Sound System for the both Word and the Choir: The sound system features settings for the liturgical style of the Celebrants as well as for controlling the sound system of the music ministry. Power Sound of New England has programmed the digital sound scenario selector to the best settings for a variety of the church’s sound scenarios. This unique church sound selector features settings to automatically compensate for softer voices or louder voices. It also features audio presets that automatically set the sound for large and small attendance, automatic seasonal changes as well as for special Masses including weddings funerals and holiday Mass celebrations. The result: Church sound that is exactly right, every time.

Selection of audio setting for any style Mass

Other notable features of the comprehensive sound system installation project include an Ipod for playing recorded music for any occasion. It has been customized with a wireless transmitter so the Celebrant can cue uprecorded music from a variety playlists from anywhere in the church. Another enhancement of the sound system is the nearly invisible “Earset” microphone. It fits over the ear and rests gently against the speaker’s cheek. A great replacement for lapel mics it projects the speaker’s voice through the sound system without any feedback or fading that is a common issue with other wireless microphones.

To learn more about sound systems for churches we invite you to visit Power Sound of New England’s website: http://powersoundne.com/worshipav.html.