Shure and leading UK sound systems and equipment supplier Wigwam recently installed a new audio system in the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York. The project came about as church leaders were refurbishing and maintaining the precious building – an important part of the project was for the audio in the building to be clear both for music and spoken word. As a result, the installation of a new audio system was commissioned, and the entire sound system has been upgraded.
More commonly known as York Minster, the historic building is justifiably seen as a national treasure and unsurprisingly boasts Grade 1 listed status with Heritage England. Its sound system has to accommodate the wide variety of uses the building hosts, often with two or more events taking place simultaneously. There are up to 2,500 people attending events and each needs to be able to hear the audio. Above all, the priority of the system was for ease of use since a variety of staff members without technical backgrounds need to be able to operate the system.
Working in the Grade 1 listed building presented a unique set of challenges, and Wigwam worked extensively with Heritage England throughout the design and implementation of the project. ‘The listed status impacts the whole process right down to the smallest detail – you can’t just start drilling holes in stonework that’s hundreds of years old,’ explains Wigwam Installation Project Manager, Dave McGuigan. ‘So every mount and fixing has to be approved and racks must be hidden, and we weren’t even able to clip cables to the stone pillars, so these have been glued in place and then RAL colour matched to further reduce their impact.’
Other restrictions with a building of this kind include audio racks which have to be placed further away from the antennas than is normal and long cable runs to accommodate. As well as a number of MX415 Lectern Microphones, the installation includes Shure ULX-D Quad Receivers, ULX-D Bodypack Transmitters and ULX-D KSM8 Handheld Transmitters. Accompanying these are a Shure UA845 Antenna Distribution System with four RF Venue Diversity Fin Antennae and five Venue Zone 4 Antenna Combiners. Additionally, there is a Shure MX202W/C Microflex Discrete Ambiance Microphone.
‘Setting up reliable wireless systems in a city centre is a challenge at the best of times, but the restrictions imposed when dealing with a listed building make achieving reliable RF performance quite challenging,’ says Shure UK Regional Sales Manager, Dave Phillips. ‘In these situations, careful antenna selection and placement is imperative to ensure against signal dropouts.
‘In addition, given the heavy construction of the building – and the leaded stained-glass windows – you wouldn’t necessarily expect to get a lot of heavy RF activity from outside the building, but in this particular location, we were. Shure has spent a great deal of time researching and developing wireless systems built to withstand these kinds of difficult conditions, and I’m pleased to see this hard work pay off on projects like York Minster.’
‘The Shure system works flawlessly,’ reports Wigwam General Manager for Sales, Phil Goldsworthy. ‘You can go anywhere in this building and have no dropouts in the audio, the fact that this system works so well with the extreme length of cable runs that are required, is absolute testament to the Shure equipment.
The sound quality is second to none in a building of this type and the installation is incredibly sympathetic to the Minster. The system provides huge flexibility for a wide range of uses and is simple to operate. It has been a pleasure to work on this project and we look forward to providing the support for the system for years to come.’
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