Silver Lake College of the Holy Family in Manitowoc, WI recently upgraded its chapel with a Martin Audio CDD-based sound system, designed and installed by DP Design.
Asked about the project, DP’s David Price says, “they have a beautiful old chapel and we upgraded the PA because the original system was old and very much showing its age.
“The college was installing a new president which was a big problem because they couldn’t hear anything or anyone other than the pipe organ with the original sound system. The chapel is a very reverberant space and there was no intelligibility whatsoever, not unusual for that type of venue––lots of hard surfaces with nothing to absorb the sound. They wanted it to feel like a church in terms of sound but they needed an intelligible system that provided consistent coverage evenly from front to back.”
For the main PA hang, the DP Design team flew two Martin Audio CDD10 loudspeakers in white to match the chapel ceiling in front of the stage facing out towards the congregation. For delays, they used two CDD10 about 50 feet back in what is a very long rectangular space––about 100 feet deep by 40 feet wide. All of the loudspeakers were flown with horizontal yokes for a clean look.
The system also includes a BSS processor as console with is controlled through an easy to use iPad interface for the priests. DPA lapel mics are used with Shure QLXD wireless systems.
Commenting on the Martin Audio solution, Price adds, “the CDD’s were the perfect choice because of their wide coverage pattern towards the bottom, narrowing towards the top which does provide a longer throw with more consistent frequency response and SPL from front to back and side to side.
“The organ isn’t amplified, but they do plug in other instruments like electric piano, violin or cello from time to time for special occasions in what is a formal, liturgical space.
“Bottom line, our client is extremely pleased with the CDD system because of its exceptional sound quality, intelligibility and uniform coverage from seat to seat, which obviously makes us very happy as well.”
