Originally constructed in 1919, St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Sioux Falls, SD recently put the finishing touches on a decade-long restoration project. Totaling more than $16 million, the extensive renovation and restoration process of the majestic church was overseen by acclaimed architect Duncan G. Stroik.
Intrinsic to the project was replacing the church’s 25 year-old sound system. Serving as Mother Church to the Diocese, as well as parish church for Sioux Falls and other surrounding parishes, St. Joseph’s masses services are well attended by hundreds of parishioners. The primary goal of the new sound system was to provide high speech intelligibility and clear sound to every seat in the house.
The project proved quite challenging, according to Peter Borchard of MuSonics Audio. MuSonics has designed audio solutions for many large cathedrals across the country.
“The church has a lot of reflective surfaces that resulted in a 6-second reverberation time, making it one of the more reverberant in the U.S. and creating significant intelligibility issues,” reports Borchard.
The historic cathedral is known for its magnificent architecture featuring imported Italian marble floors and columns, massive arched ceilings, and huge stained glass windows. It was vital that the new audio system blend aesthetically so as not to diminish the visual impact of the church’s stunning architecture.
“Needless to say, it was critical that the new sound system would in no way interfere with the church’s aesthetics,” says Borchard.
In light of these requirements, Iconyx digitally steerable arrays from Renkus-Heinz proved to be the appropriate solution.
The system, installed by Brookings, SD-based Audio Connections, uses a combination of Iconyx loudspeakers – two IC-32, two IC-24 and six IC-8 loudspeakers – that are wall-mounted throughout the cathedral.
Iconyx uses proprietary Renkus-Heinz steerable multiple beam technology to provide full even coverage throughout the venue. The slim, low-profile column loudspeakers are custom painted to match the cathedral walls, rendering them almost invisible.
Renkus-Heinz RHAON digital signal processing controls the loudspeakers. “RHAON is great because you plug into the network in one place and you can control and monitor all of the speakers. You don’t have the normal hassle of running around plugging in to various pieces of equipment,” explains Borchard.
“The sound quality of the Iconyx loudspeakers is superb, and the color matching and mounting is exemplary,” he adds. “The cathedral is a showcase.”
Renkus-Heinz
