The Parish church of St Giles’ in Wrexham, North Wales, a Grade one listed building, is considered one of the finest examples of a medieval parish church in Wales. Built mainly between the end of the 15th and early part of the 16th Century the church annually welcomes around 33,000 visitors through its doors.
Unfortunately, the performance of the sound system longer met the church’s needs and in 2017 the Parochial church council engaged Richard King Systems to provide a scheme for improving the audio facilities.
With over thirty years’ experience of sound system design in places of worship RKS turned to the HARMAN Professional product portfolio, distributed in the UK by Sound Technology Ltd. HARMAN’s JBL range of passive CBT column loudspeakers were considered the best-in-class solution in terms of both sound performance and discrete appearance. At the opposite end of the audio chain HARMAN’s AKG microphones were specified, together with dbx ZonePro signal processing and Crown DCi DriveCore Install Series amplification.
With the support of Sound Technology, including their Pro Audio Application Team, Richard King Systems installed a complete demonstration system at the church for evaluation purposes. The vast improvement in the sound reproduction was widely acknowledged and led to the church council approving the proposed scheme.
Following the necessary building works consent the installed equipment comprises a pair of JBL CBT70J column speaker in the Main Nave, plus 3 x JBL CBT50 column speakers to act as delay infill in the Nave and the Royal Welsh Fusiliers North Chapel. A Crown DCi2/600 powers the CBT70J loudspeakers.
In terms of microphones, 3 AKG WMS470 UHF wireless systems were specified, including an antenna distribution system. Two systems are equipped with AKG C417L lapel microphones and one with an AKG C5 handheld microphone. An AKG CK49 + GN15M gooseneck mic system was also specified for the lectern.
A dbx ZonePro 1261M is used to EQ the system, configure the delays and allow for scene changes , whilst a dbx ZC4 wall controller allows simple switching of those scenes.
The original Soundcraft Spirit Live 3-2 has been retained together with some auxiliary amplification.
The system also included the fabrication of bespoke loudspeaker bracketry with no new masonry holes being drilled.
Following completion Rev’d Dr Jason Bray, vicar, commented: “The natural acoustic of the fine mediaeval Parish Church of St Giles has been significantly enhanced by the system installed by Richard King Systems, allowing us also the flexibility to isolate various parts of the building for particular purposes, extending their use for meetings and events as well as for the prime purpose of worship.”
