The installation of a pair of Tannoy QFlex 16 digitally steerable array loudspeakers at Our Lady of Fatima in Seattle, WA has eradicated difficulties parishioners had hearing the Word, while maintaining the parish’s ability to offer historically accurate musical performances.
The existing sound system was installed back in 1968 when the new church was built. Needless to say, it was long overdue for a change.
“It was at least thirty years old,” says music director, Matthew Loucks. “Some speakers weren’t functioning and many had been clustered on one side of the sanctuary. In order to hear speech on the opposite side of the room the system had to be very loud – it was a very lopsided configuration.”
As part of a 2010 audio upgrade, a new pipe organ was purchased, while existing wall-to-wall carpeting covering the 650-seat sanctuary’s was removed replaced with Terrazzo flooring. While that enhanced the sound of the choir and encouraged the congregation to lift up their voices in song, it only exasperated the overall lack of vocal intelligibility during services. The church leadership hired Lynwood, WA-based Morgan Sound to design and install a new sound reinforcement system with the primary goal of speech intelligibility.
“Even when we had carpet, it was impossible to hear articulated speech in the back of the room,” says Stephen Weeks, A/V consultant and project manager for Morgan Sound.
Weeks specified a pair of Tannoy QFlex 26 digitally steerable arrays to dramatically enhance speech intelligibility and subtly reinforce musical performances by resident ensembles and visiting performers like The Vienna Boy’s Choir.
“The QFlex array speakers sound natural, clean and clear; particularly in the articulation of high frequencies,” explains Weeks. “QFlex just does a better job in the 4k to 20k range than their competitors and we could manipulate the beam substantially, so less energy is directed at the front of the room and, as you go further back, it gets louder.”
The compact footprint of the QFlex 16 also appealed to aesthetic concerns the church leadership had voiced to Weeks. Mounted discreetly on either side of the altar behind acoustic cloth on an imposing white rock wall their visual impact was minimal while their sonic impact substantial.
“I have nothing but high praise for them,” Loucks says. “There are only two speakers, but they do the job extremely well. QFlex saved us from the hassle and cost of applying acoustic treatments, and they allowed us to preserve the reverberant environment we wanted for music.
“When you’re reading from scripture, you want the Word to be understood all the times. Now, even when there are only a handful of people at our daily 8 AM mass, speech is highly intelligible.”
