CAMBRIDGE, U.K. – RG Jones Sound Engineering has equipped the chapel at Cambridge's Trinity College with its first sound reinforcement system since it was founded in the mid-1540s. It includes 127 Harman's JBL Control 52 ultra-compact satellite loudspeakers, accessed via a BSS Soundweb DSP design to optimize the sound broadcast from seven fixed microphone positions at the lecterns.
Sound Technology Ltd, Harman Pro's UK and ROI distributors, supplied the equipment to meet the specs of the system design created by the acoustic consulting firm, Peter Mapp + Associates, in accordance with management consultants (and overall project managers) Bidwells.
Henry VIII originally founded Trinity College in 1546 as part of the University of Cambridge. The chapel, with its notable clock tower, sits at the far end of the Great Court and was begun by Mary I in 1554 in memory of her father, Henry VIII.
The ante-chapel contains statues of many famous Trinity men, including Roubillac's sculpture of Isaac Newton, while the chapel itself contains a Metzler organ-one of only two instruments by this respected maker in Great Britain. It is contained within the restored late 17th-century case built by England's most famous organ builder, ‘Father' Smith.
RG Jones' project manager, Jeff Woodford, and installation manager Jon Berry were tasked with implementing a design in a listed building under English Heritage restrictions, which called for the loudspeakers to be set discreetly on the shelving under the pews and the transformer distribution boxes to be similarly concealed.
Because the system was designed to handle gentle reinforcement rather than public address, sequential delay times were measured by Berry from each of the microphone positions to each of the Chapel's 14 speaker zones (based on seven microphone positions feeding each of the North and South sides). Advanced programming ensured that the voice of the speaker or celebrant is heard first at the local position.
Another four zones cover the organ loft (where the equipment rack is situated), the ante-chapel, control screen position and altar.
Jon Berry explained how he used Harman HiQnet London Architect's Logic programming of the two Soundweb BLU-100 devices (configured 12-in/8-out) to enable them to sense when audio is being passed into the system. "At the point that it reaches a certain level it will trigger a preset, which sets the delay time appropriate to the particular speaker, ensuring that the listener can detect exactly where the sound source is.
"When two people are speaking from different positions, it will use custom designed Logic automatically to recall a different preset which will deliver a compromise between the two positions," Berry said. "The system simply auto configures and triggers the delay time, via the Logic preset recalls."
With the installation of 127 100V line Control 52s-a large number for a listed building-and the additional number of zones, a BSS BLU-BOB2 was incorporated into the design to expand the number of outputs.
The Control 52s were specified by Peter Mapp since they are designed to deliver high fidelity sound via a low distortion 2.5-inch driver. Jeff Woodford stated that due to the fixing plate/wall bracket assembly and ball and socket arrangement that allowed each speaker to be angled up to 45 degrees off-axis, they had experienced no difficulty in concealing and pointing these miniature speakers.
"This was the first time the Chapel had used sound reinforcement, and given the restrictions and number of microphone positions, it proved to be a particularly challenging project," Berry added. "But thanks to the discreet and versatile nature of the Control 52's, and programming flexibility of London Architect, we have been able to deliver an optimum localized sound to every seat in the room via a simple interface."
For more information, please visit www.harman.com and www.soundtech.co.uk.
