As well as characterising its services, the use of live music alongside spoken word presents the Evangelische Kirche (Lutheran Protestant Church) in Wahrenholz (Northern Germany) some problems.

Moving on from an a set-up that had been installed in the mid-1960s as a ‘speech only’ system, the church found itself having to rent and set up an external PA system for its more lively gospel events. This was costly and labour intensive, and also spoiled the aesthetic of the ancient, wood-finished room.

So the curch called in installation company Klartext to design and install a new audio system.

When specifying the system, the Klartext engineers were conscious that it would have to be able to cope with all of the requirements of a modern and forward-thinking house of worship.

Due to its wooden construction, the room itself has good natural acoustics, with a warm reverb that sounds neutral over the acoustic spectrum. Because of this, the installation didn’t require beam-steering or line array speakers to achieve clear speech reproduction, but it still required something that would allow for an impressive music performance. Needing a solution that would take all of this into consideration, the Klartext engineers immediately thought of Tannoy’s V Series.

In February 2011, Klartext travelled to Wahrenholz to set up a test system for a Sunday service, using Tannoy V12s as the main speakers, supported by V6 delay speakers and supported by a VS15 BP woofer placed near the altar. The system was controlled by a TDX1 digital controller, the V12 in stereo operation and the V6 delay in mono set-up (as the fourth output was used for the sub). Klartext used both AKG and Audio-Technica condenser microphones for different locations, to test the room, and they all worked well.

Before and after the service there was a thorough testing by the customer using different types of music played from CD – even the musicians among the crew were impressed with the results. Different programmes were all audible, even in the most remote areas of the hall. The church was convinced…

In the August 2011 an order was placed with Klartext for the V Series system installation ‘as tested in February’ – however, by that time Tannoy had launched its VX Series, successor to the V Series. But since the customer didn’t want to switch to speakers that had not been tested in the room, Klartext and Tannoy located two V12 and two V6 in the lower nave, and recommended the use of the new VX6 for the galleries. The look of the new system was untroubled by the fact that they are from different speaker generations. Not wishing to ruin the aesthetics of the church, Klartext painted the (originally black) V6 and VX6 speakers to blend with the wooden columns on which thewy are are mounted.

‘We completed the installation within two days and since then, many sermons, music performances and gospel services have been held at The Evangelische Kirche,’ says Volker Gringmuth of Klartext. ‘The combination of both VX and V Series have performed perfectly to the customer’s fullest satisfaction. We fully expect more orders from that region, once the Tannoy’s show what an up-to-date system can sound like.’

Speakers:
Lower nave: Front V12 (2), Delay V6 (2) each line stereo driven
Gallery: VX6 (4) runtime-aligned, each line mono driven
Woofer: VS15 BP
Mixer/Controller: Allen & Heath iDR 8 digital audio matrix

Amplifiers:
A-Part Champ One (V12)
A-Part Champ 2 (V6/VX 6/Sub bridged)

Microphones:
AKG gooseneck/GK33 (pulpit and lectern)
Audio Technica AE5100 (altar)
Inputs provided for instruments, additional mics and external mixing console

More: www.tannoy.com
More: www.allen-heath.com
More: www.klartextgruppe.de