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| The sound system includes ZX1i speakers, Q series amps, DC-One processor and EV microphones |
Located northwest of the Ugandan capital of Kampala, Saint Charles Lwanga Church is the home of the Roman Catholic community of Ntinda. With over 1200 worshipers each Sunday, the church’s previous sound reinforcement system struggled to cope with the weekly challenge of bringing the holy word to the congregation. The parishioners therefore longed for a sound system that distinguished itself through high intelligibility and reliability as well as an aesthetic design. No simple task, as a cavernous timber dome surrounded by concrete pillars, hard floors and stained glass windows posed a large challenge regarding dispersion and coverage angles.
The church’s engineer William Bakawa oversaw the installation of the new sound reinforcement system, and approached the Kampala-based branch of Visual Engineering Service (VES). “They needed a sound system based on a loudspeaker that was compact, easy to install, had a decent power rating and – not to forget – a high speech intelligibility factor,” recalls Sedu Muwanga, Director of VES in Uganda. VES formulated a simple-yet-effective design for the use of an Electro-Voice system and divided the installation into two phases. This way, the congregation could already make use of the new system on the ground floor while the second part of the system is being installed in the extension rooms and on the balconies. To serve the church’s ground floor, VES opted for sound reinforcement consisting of ten ZX1i loudspeakers of which six are fixed to the main pillars of the church. “We chose Electro-Voice ZX1i due to their high performance, reliability, ease of installation and superior intelligibility,” explains Sedu Muwanga. “They have a rotatable horn, which allowed us to overcome the challenges posed by the building’s structure. And, as the icing on the cake, the white loudspeakers aesthetically blend in with the interior setup of the church.”
Driving the speakers are two Q1212 power amplifiers delivering 1800 watts per channel. To control the system, VES opted for an Electro-Voice DC-One sound system processor which allows adjustments not only from the front panel but also via DC-One Editor Software. Rounding off the installation are four PL44 vocal microphones for the choir and two Electro-Voice Polar Choice PC12 gooseneck podium microphones for the main. To serve the extended seating area and the balconies, further ZX1i loudspeakers and Q1212 amps will be installed by early 2015. “For us, EV was the brand of choice,” says Sedu Muwanga. “The system not only meets all the criteria, we also received great support from EV throughout the process.”
“The system installed in the first phase is now fully operational and services are running without a hitch,” says Saint Charles Lwanga Church’s engineer William Bakawa. “Compared to the system we had before, this is a huge leap forward. We can now hear every spoken word clearly throughout the whole church. All thanks to VES for providing a very good solution.”
