Famous for islands and waterways, its lively port town atmosphere and its seafood, Tongyeong is surrounded on three sides by the sea on the Goseong peninsula in South Korea. It is also a designated UNESCO City of Music, known for its International Music Festival which is considered one of the most influential and respected contemporary music festivals in Asia.
As a city where the ancient and modern collide, there is a thriving church tradition that embraces both ends of the spectrum. Recently, the new-build Tongyeong Juklim Church saw Seoul-based pro audio specialists and KV2 distributor DaonSD provide an audio system from KV2.
Founded in 1990, Tongyeong Juklim church is a relatively young institution whose growing attendance grew required a modern campus be designed – initially with another audio system before the decision to switch to KV2 after a demonstration from DaonSD at the recommendation of a local agency.
‘As the main hall – which seats around 400 people – is less than 25m front to back, and there is no balcony to contend with, there was absolutely no need for a line array system which would have been cumbersome and expensive,’ says DaonSD Project Manager, John Parks. ‘We recommended a classic ES system comprising a single ES1.0 combined with an ES2.5 high output subwoofer per side, driven by a pair of EPAK2500R control and amplification units.
‘By aligning the mid-high frequencies toward the rear of the congregation, the main speaker delivers natural and warm speech reinforcement throughout space without the need for separate down fill or front fill.’
Nevertheless, in order to achieve that, DaonSD had some acoustical advice: ‘We recommended that the reverberation time was kept to near one second and that special attention be paid to the speech band frequencies to ensure that the church leader’s speech and the choir could be discerned with clarity. The interior construction team were happy to accept the advice and were able to minimise any potential acoustic issues with careful choice of materials and skilful construction techniques.’
Another potential issue was a large LED screen behind the pulpit: ‘Many churches in Korea are choosing to augment their worship experience with large LED screens, and Tongyeoung Juklim church is no exception,’ explains Parks. ‘However, these large, highly reflective surfaces can often play havoc with gain before feedback. Fortunately, it wasn’t a problem here as the sound from the KV2 system is so beautifully detailed that we never have a problem achieving the gain required for the services to sound fantastic.’
DaonSD also supplied a pair of KV2 ultra-compact ESD Cubes, which sit on the crystal lectern on the stage below the LED screen. Finished in white to blend with the environment, the Cubes act as monitors for the service leader.
‘This place, which has been quiet for the last two years due to the Covid pandemic, is slowly reviving,’ observes. Parks. ‘We hope that, with their new system, beautiful sound will once again bloom in Tongyeong, the city of music.’
More: www.kv2audio.com
