Built in 1937, Christ Church Kowloon Tong is a historic Anglican church with modern Gothic architecture that has been preserved for nearly nine decades. Its high ceilings and reflective surfaces create long reverberation times, making clear speech reproduction particularly difficult. And in the past, new technology seemed to overwhelm the church's historic interior.
Supplied and installed by Tones Tailor, a new HK Audio system recently replaced an analogue installation that had served the church for more than 20 years. The project centered on HK Audio's SI Series P10i and P10j column loudspeakers, chosen for their ability to deliver clear, controlled coverage in acoustically challenging environments.
"Our previous sound system had been running for more than 20 years, and we were looking to move from analogue to digital,” explains Raymond WC Chan of Christ Church to Worship AVL. “We finally chose Tones Tailor because they understood the background of the church, especially its aesthetic elements."
With both performance and appearance equally important, Tones Tailor designed a system around HK Audio's P10 column loudspeakers. Their controlled vertical dispersion helps minimize reflections from the walls and ceiling, reducing the effects of reverberation without compromising coverage throughout the church.
The installation also includes a SI Series S 210 subwoofer for music and live events, along with Fineo FO5 and FO8 loudspeakers for front-fill and monitoring, creating a complete solution capable of handling spoken word and musical performances.
“Thankfully, the HK Audio column system offered excellent vertical dispersion, helping us reduce reflections from the ceiling and walls. The P10 also gave us flexible mounting options, allowing the loudspeakers to integrate neatly into the building while delivering excellent performance."
The finished installation has transformed the listening experience for both the church and its congregation. "Tones Tailor did a great job proposing the right solution," adds Raymond Chan. "It has solved almost 90% of the problems we experienced before."
Howard Chan concludes, "After installation and commissioning, the client was extremely happy with the results. Speech intelligibility has improved hugely - they were equally pleased with how discreet the loudspeakers look. The final performance was very close to our acoustic simulations and the system sounded excellent straight out of the box."
