It is uncommon that the opportunity arises to design an audio system as an integral part of a new-build house of worhip in the UK. But RG Jones Sound Engineering recently did just this for a new mosque in Leicester, choosing a complete Yamaha solution.
Baitul Ikram Mosque is the new home of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community (AMA) in the East Midlands, and required needd a distributed audi/visual system for a complex that includes a main prayer hall, multipurpose hall, meeting room, office, crèche, library, kitchen and entrance/foyer area. As well as relaying sermons from the mosque’s main prayer hall, a key requirement of the zoned system was incoming and outgoing broadcast feeds.
‘We wanted a one-brand installation, and chose Yamaha because we knew that the Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) range would provide the DSP and networking that we needed,’ says RG Jones Project Engineer, Jeff Woodward. ‘The complex mainly required ceiling loudspeakers and the CIS models are of excellent quality, suitable for highly intelligible speech. We knew the Yamaha DSP would be ideal for distributing local and broadcast audio around the complex, and that the speakers would match the processing and amplifiers. It was a common-sense decision.’
The system features 22 Yamaha VXC4W and 18 VXC6W ceiling loudspeakers, plus a pair of VXS5W surface-mounted units. Processing and amplification is taken care of by an MTX3 matrix processor with EXi8 input expander and an XMV8280 multichannel power amplifier. The system is controlled by a DCP4V4S wall-mounted controller in the main A/V rack room and six DCP1V4S in the various halls and offices.
Sound from the fixed prayer microphones and a number radio mics is distributed around the building by the Yamaha system, with control of zone output levels via the local, wall-mounted units. Meanwhile, the system also distributes audio around the complex from satellite feeds. Video is distributed to LED displays and projectors via a Wirestorm HDBaseT network.
‘The incoming satellite feeds are from the AMA’s own Sky TV station, MTA International. On Fridays the main weekly sermon given by their spiritual leader, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad Khalifatul Masih V, is transmitted from their main mosque in Morden, South London,’ Woodward says. ‘There are two audio channels, one for English and one for Urdu. The Urdu feed is played out over the PA system in the mosque, with the English feed broadcast via a wireless translation earpiece system.’
RG Jones also provided a Yamaha TF1 digital console for the mosque’s official inauguration. The mixer took feeds from table microphones, which fed into the installed sound system via the TF1’s master outputs, with Aux feeds routed to outdoor overflow areas. An aux output from the prayer microphones was routed via the installed system to the TF1, where it was used as a matrix to send the feed to overflow areas not served by the installed loudspeakers.
‘They are very happy with the audio system,’ Woodward says. ‘The distribution and sound quality in all areas is very good, with the system providing simple control of volumes and source selection for non-technical users via the DCP series wall controllers.’
