Designed by Henry Fernbach to resemble Budapest’s Dohány Street Synagogue, New York City’s historic Central Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in NYC. Restored in 2001 in its original style after an accidental fire in 1998, it recently upgraded its audio system with the help of Masque Sound.
‘Central Synagogue has long been recognised for its remarkable music programme, first-rate singers and Friday night services,’ says A/V Manager, Jesse Lauter. ‘We had a good sound system in place, but it just wasn’t meeting our current needs.’
After consolting various designers and integrators, the synagogue appointed acoustical consultation firm Akustiks to manage the project. ‘Anthony Nittoli at Akustiks recommended Masque Sound to supply the equipment and installation services, and we couldn’t be happier,’ Lauter recalls. ‘Gabriel Bennett and the team at Masque Sound were great. This was not an easy project, as we were dealing with a very old and historic building, and the professionalism that Masque Sound brought to the table every day was fantastic.’
One of the main considerations was the synagogue’s sanctuary, which needed to be offer amplification for music/concerts, detailed and accurate reinforcement for voice reinforcement, and give A/V managers the ability to adjust the acoustics of the space. Also included in the install was an updated Assistive Listening System that offers better coverage with a higher integrity signal than previously possible in the space. A new Electro-Voice 70V amplifier was installed to provide a cleaner signal for programme distribution to the back-of-house areas. At the heart of the upgrade were two main systems. A fully redundant Dante audio network serves the backbone of the system. Acoustic treatment was also added usin acoustics of the space to enable the acoustics to more closely resemble the physical size and impact of the sanctuary.
Of the two main systems, the reinforcement configuration uses Yamaha R-Series and other Dante-enabled I/O devices with a Yamaha CL3 desk at front-of-house, and features a d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system. A Shure wireless microphone package rounds the system out.
A further consideration was the sanctuary’s pipe organ, which demands the space be more reverberant than for more modern musical styles. E-coustic Systems allow for on-the-fly tailoring of the acoustics to meet this variety of demands, controlled wirelessly from an iPad.
In addition to the sanctuary equipment, Masque Sound supplied a Yamaha CL1 console for broadcast and archival purposes, and loaded a Dante-MY16-AUD card into the existing Yamaha LS9 mixer in the pavilion. This added the ability to provide or receive mixes from any of the spaces, including the sanctuary, pavilion or control room, all of which can be patched using Dante Controller. Also installed is Dante Virtual Soundcard with the existing Pro Tools configuration that offers a cleaner interconnect between devices and a more versatile archive service.
Another phase of the upgrade addressed the Pavilion – a true multi-purpose room, handling events such as weddings, summer services, concerts, movie presentations. The room is attached to an atrium, kitchen, stage, and dance floor. Masque Sound used a Danley soud reinforcement system and JBL ceiling speakers for multi-zone coverage. Rane Halogen DSP gives audio control and routing.
‘This was a very long and difficult project, but we are thrilled with the results,’ says Lauter. ‘Just removing the existing DSP, amplifier, speakers, rigging and rack equipment was a huge undertaking. Then we had to run new data, speaker and coax cable, along with speakers and all of the other equipment – which made this task nearly impossible. The crew at Masque Sound worked very long hours under less-than-ideal time constraints and did a wonderful job. I can truly say that Central Synagogue has one of the best sound systems of any house of worship in the world.’
More: www.MasqueSound.com
