CASE STUDY |HOUSES OF WORSHIP

St. John Fisher Church

Location

Boothwyn, PA

Facility Scope

A Roman Catholic Parish in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia originally built in the 1970’s

Objective

To complement the remodeling and expansion of their church, the parish of St. John Fisher sought to update and enhance the building’s audio capabilities.

Biamp Solutions

Community E SERIES loudspeakers
Community C SERIES loudspeakers
Community V SERIES subwoofers

Outcome

With the implementation of Biamp Community E SERIES and C SERIES loudspeakers, St. John Fisher Church achieved the powerful sound their large expanded congregation requires.

Due to demographic changes in the area, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia decided to consolidate three Delaware County church congregations into one, with St. John Fisher chosen as the new central facility. The architectural planning and pre-construction review commenced mid-2019, with construction and remodeling taking just 4 months. Although the church building had ample seating, its layout was very 70’s in design. Additionally, religious artifacts and stained glass were moved into the remodeled building, combining irreplaceable older architectural elements with newer lighting, seating, and ambiance.

Due to the remodel and materials integrated in its construction, the church required new audio equipment. Pro audio and commercial video systems specialist Sound Designs LLC designed and installed a new sound system for St. John Fisher Church utilizing Biamp’s Community loudspeakers.

(Parish leadership) is very satisfied with the design, installation, and outstanding speech intelligibility of the system.

JOHN DEZELLSound Designs LLC

Solution

For the main system, Sound Designs proposed Biamp’s Community E SERIES loudspeakers. With several successful designs in the surrounding area, members of the parish leadership were invited to visit locations where Sound Designs had recently installed a variety of Biamp loudspeakers, enabling them to see and hear the effectiveness of the Community E SERIES line.

With the choice of loudspeakers approved, Sound Designs commenced with the design and installation of the church’s complete audio system, which included Community E SERIES ENT-FR high performance column line source main loudspeakers, ENT206 and ENT203 side fills, and VLF208 subwoofers. A Community processor was installed at the mixer location to provide system filtering and equalization. In addition to the main church system, Sound Designs used Biamp’s Community C SERIES C4 4.5-inch coaxial two-way ceiling loudspeakers for the parish hall.

Conclusion

“Community E SERIES loudspeakers are very appropriate for Catholic churches, where design requires that visual elements should not detract from the congregation’s focus on worship,” said John Dezell of Sound Designs. “The slim column profile allows the loudspeakers to be positioned in a way they can be heard but remain visually unobtrusive, while the line array dispersion pattern provides superb, even coverage. The client is very satisfied with the design, installation, and outstanding speech intelligibility of the system.”