The Cathedral Church of All Saints, better known as Derby Cathedral and hosting at least 18 services per week (two or three services daily) plus special and seasonal services to celebrate important events in the religious calendar, was recently outfitted with a new sound reinforcement system utilizing KV2 Audio point source loudspeakers implemented by integration firm Acoustic Solutions.
“The pandemic was a catalyst for change for many churches as they were forced into live streaming in order to continue to connect with their congregations,” explains Charles Brown of Acoustic Solutions. “I’ve installed over 40 live streaming systems in churches across the UK as a result, and it was whilst advising Derby Cathedral on this topic that it became apparent that their current loudspeaker system was less than adequate for the job.”
The cathedral needed clarity of the spoken word and detailed, low-level playback that could be perfectly heard without over-exciting the acoustic of the building. Brown demonstrated several products from a number of brands, but it was the ESD25 and ESD5 loudspeakers from KV2 that the cathedral (and Brown) preferred.
“I generally find that once clients have been exposed to KV2, they don’t want anything else,” states Brown, “and if it were up to me, I’d use KV2 on every job if I could get it into the budget! In this case, ESD5 and ESD25 were an ideal choice – sufficiently compact that they fit in architecturally yet loud enough without being intrusive and with a clarity and detail that is second to none, all of which is perfect for a cathedral environment.”
The new design replaces about 30 100-volt line loudspeakers with 16 ESD cabinets in white to blend with the architecture. Four of the larger, more powerful ESD25s are positioned at the front of the space near the altar to provide a little more bottom end, with the rest of the room covered by 12 of the more compact ESD5s. An Allen & Heath AHM matrix mixer defines eight loudspeaker zones allowing areas to be isolated when not in use and the levels of each zone to be adjusted for even coverage with no hotspots or dead zones.
“We’ve had nothing but praise for the system since it’s been in, both from users and those who have experienced the sound it delivers,” says Brown, with Derby Cathedral operations manager Jessica Kilmurray adding, “We’ve had a huge number of positive comments about how the new system looks and sounds from members of the Cathedral community. It just goes to show that it’s already making a significant impact on the quality of our services, which is marvelous.”
