St. Mark The Evangelist Catholic Church, a thriving parish in San Antonio, has been outfitted with a dynamic new sound reinforcement system headed by Tannoy Qflex Series self-powered, digitally steerable column array loudspeakers working in tandem with Tannoy CMS Series ceiling loudspeakers.
Dickensheets Design Associates, from Austin, Texas, was retained to design the new system. Consultant Ken Dickensheets has enjoyed a long working relationship with St. Marks and was responsible for the design of the original sound system which was installed when the main sanctuary was built back in 1997.
“The system had to accommodate a new pipe organ and address system needs for the more contemporary service that they offer on Saturday evenings,” explains Dickensheets. “Like many churches, the space had many reflective surfaces. It is always a challenge to create a system that provides musical clarity as well as vocal intelligibility.”
Dickensheets chose the Tannoy QFlex 24 steerable array because of its excellent sonic quality and ability to focus the acoustic energy exactly where it’s desired.
“The extreme steering capability was key,” says Dickensheets. “The speaker had to be mounted within the new organ chamber and provide coverage almost directly in front of the head wall of the sanctuary. The quality of musical sound and speech intelligibility were very impressive as well. It sounded great.”
As a self-powered loudspeaker, the QFlex 24 it was easily built into the new structure which was designed to accommodate the pipe organ behind the chancel. In the end it was virtually invisible to parishioners – another request from the church leaders and architects.
To fill in the rear and sides of the church, Dickensheets used the existing distributed ceiling speakers along with 18 Tannoy CMS 6TDC ceiling speakers. The CMS 6TDCs feature custom cans built by Tannoy that match the church’s lighting fixtures and blend seamlessly into the church architecture.
The entire distributed loudspeaker system was then rewired to accommodate dual delay zones originating from the chancel and the choir area simultaneously.
“Like most churches, St. Marks had a limited budget,” adds Dickensheets. “So in addition to the ceiling speakers we repurposed the original loudspeakers from the old center cluster as source speakers for the choir area. One of the subwoofers from the cluster is co-located with the Qflex array while the other is installed along with the source loudspeakers in the choir area.”
In the main seating area near the center rear of the sanctuary is the FOH mixing area equipped with a Roland V400 digital mixer. The ministerial mics are automixed by a Biamp AudiaFlex system which also handles all of the cross-source delays and system processing.
QSC power amplifiers power the distributed system and the choir source loudspeakers. The amps and controller are located in a rack in the sacristy behind the alter area.
“Sound Distributors, also located in San Antonio, did an excellent job installing the system,” notes Dickensheets. “B&A Architects provided the architectural work needed for the organ installation. It was a great team effort with outstanding results.”
