There are certain architectural and historic structures that present particularly demanding challenges when it comes to installing and optimizing sound systems. In houses of worship, those challenges include avoiding annoying acoustic reverberations, preventing incorrect propagation of sounds, and ensuring maximum intelligibility of music and speech (while still respecting precise architectural constraints.)
This conflict was recently faced head on by the Piacenza, Italy-based IT and system integration company Inside Srl, for the Church of Sant’Erasmo in Castel Goffredo, situated in the province of Mantua, Italy and built in the late 1500's.
The Church’s parish priest, Don Giuseppe Bergamaschi, explains, “The idea of upgrading the sound system in our church was a need felt for many years by all users—from the congregation to the readers, from the choristers to the instrumentalists, as well as the priests themselves. We entrusted the renovation of the acoustic system to Inside Srl of Piacenza—and right from the outset, when the tests and studies of other systems were conducted, we realized the solution we had chosen would provide optimum performance.” This choice was Martin Audio’s award-winning O-Line micro-array.
The fundamental requirement was to completely replace a very dated, and no longer performing audio system with a system capable of clear and intelligible speech, even in this highly reverberant environment. Added to this was the specific request of the client—the Parish of Castel Goffredo—to have a sound system capable of enhancing the choir, which animates the celebrations and performs concerts in the church, which also hosts musical performances by other groups.
The solution proposed by Inside Srl’s technical manager, Cristian Sartori, and his colleague Gianluca Pighi, was the Martin Audio O-Line 2-way system (in white version)—four elements per side. The system’s technology offers sidelobe-free vertical dispersion. Completing the Martin Audio deployment, a pair of CDD8W’s are set on two columns towards the altar area, performing fill duties.
First, the listening test was successfully conducted inside the church, with the parish priest and Inside Srl’s team verifying the suitability of the system for voice and music—as well as its aesthetic integration into the surrounding environment. Next came another key stage in the process as attention turned to acoustic simulation. This was done with the team of product specialists at Audiosales, Martin Audio’s distribution partner.
Inside Srl's contract for the Church of Sant'Erasmo was not limited to providing sound reinforcement. The client also requested that Masses and celebrations be broadcast live via the Castel Goffredo radio station, Radio Alfa. “Many people,” explains Don Giuseppe Bergamaschi, "follow both weekday and Sunday Holy Mass via streaming. We have the church directly connected to Radio Alfa and the audio is excellent as is the video.
