A century later, the church’s original parish hall is surrounded by a burgeoning campus that includes a magnificent church, an historic rectory, a Frank Lloyd Wright style convent, and state-of-the-art school facilities that serve students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The church is a grand, stately stone building with soaring 50-foot ceilings and classic Old World style marble tracery.
As with many older sanctuaries, its classic architecture was designed for majestic organ and choir sound, with spoken word intelligibility a distant afterthought.
Attempts over the years to improve intelligibility with installed sound systems have proved insufficient.
“They’ve been through a number of systems over the years, none of which have been successful in improving intelligibility,” says Anthony Albano of Avondale, Pennsylvania-based Naamans Creek Audio/Video.
As Albano explains, it was frustration with their last system that inadvertently led to a solution. “They were hosting a special mass led by the Catholic Bishop, and they decided to rent a temporary system rather than even trying to use their existing one,” says Albano.
The rented system worked well enough that St. Elizabeth’s pastor decided to purchase a similar system for permanent installation.
“Prior to giving the go-ahead to purchase the new system, Naamans AV was invited to provide a proposal to install a system,” says Albano. Based on a long history of successful installations utilizing Community Professional Loudspeakers, Albano suggested arranging a demonstration of Community’s ENTASYS high performance three-way column line array system.
“We came out and analyzed the room, and set up a temporary system using two ENTASYS columns on either side of the altar, and one more on either side as delays.” Two Community VLF212WP subwoofers completed the system.
Albano says the church’s Project Manager was immediately impressed with the focused, full-range performance of the ENTASYS. “The ENTASYS system outperformed the rented system, hands down,” he says.
ENTASYS also addressed the church’s aesthetic needs, thanks to its slim, low-profile design. “The ENTASYS speakers are almost invisible in their permanent mounted positions,” Albano says.
“We mounted a second set on either side of the back wall to cover the rear balcony section. Again, they blend in so well that they’re actually hard to find.”
Albano reports that Naamans Creek has received numerous compliments on the sound quality. “One statement we’ve heard several times is that the assisted listening system is being used far less frequently.”
He adds that shortly after commissioning the system, a representative from another historic church, St. Anthony of Padua, approached Naaman’s Creek to install an ENTASYS system at their facility. “Installing Community loudspeakers is a great calling card for future business,” he says.
