Its sweeping semi-circular sanctuary assures congregants at the All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Toronto an unobstructed focus for their services – a view now accompanied by a new EM Acoustics sound system following an upgrade made by Contact Distribution.
When OMS Canada was invited to modernise the church’s sound system, the mandate was not simply to install more loudspeakers but to deliver exceptional speech intelligibility, even and natural coverage in the open sanctuary of the church’s mid-century modern architecture.
The sanctuary seats approximately 800 arranged in five triangular seating ‘wedges’, each accommodating around 150 worshippers. ‘Speech intelligibility is absolutely critical for worship spaces, and this is a very live, reverberant space,’ says OMS Canada co-founder, Jeff Shorthouse. ‘It wasn’t about increasing the volume; the audio needed to be clearer, more natural and provide completely even coverage across the congregation.’
Completed in 1967 during Canada’s Centennial year, the church previously relied on a system of around 15 distributed loudspeakers, which suited an earlier era of worship but created problems for today’s services. The old system had disrupted the sanctuary’s clean mid-century sightlines while, acoustically, the multiple loudspeakers gave inconsistent coverage with competing arrival times compromising clarity. The church leadership – all technically knowledgeable – had high expectations of the project.
Before any final design decisions were made, OMS Canada and Contact Distribution arranged on-site demonstrations of EM Acoustics loudspeakers directly in the sanctuary so that the parish leadership could evaluate their performance in the actual worship environment.
‘The two onsite demos helped the parish leadership to make a confident and informed decision,’ Shorthouse says. ‘We put in the EM Acoustics R8s, powered them up and, honestly, they sounded incredible right out of the box. We didn’t even feel the need to EQ them.’
The staff, many of whom had backgrounds in recording and audio production, quickly recognised the exceptional natural voicing of the system which reinforced EM Acoustics’ reputation in a very acoustically demanding room.
Initially, the client believed that they would require a secondary ring of delay loudspeakers, following the precedent set by the previous system. Instead of simply agreeing and adding unnecessary cost, OMS Canada took a different approach.
‘Adding an additional delay ring wouldn’t have been the right solution,’ confirms Dave Misener, OMS Canada’s other co-founder. ‘Instead, we took the approach of ‘let’s see what the R8s can really do before we add more sound sources.’ It’s not about how much you can sell. It’s about giving the client what they actually need.’ This approach aligned perfectly with the philosophy shared by OMS Canada and EM Acoustics of favouring fewer loudspeakers, precisely placed to deliver high-quality and natural-sounding audio.
The structural realities of the church added further complexity to the installation. The sanctuary contains no vertical columns, instead having four major overhead beams at varying heights, ranging from 16-25ft high. The client was concerned about preserving the room’s aesthetics and made it clear that any sound equipment needed to integrate into the environment rather than dominate it.
‘They wanted the loudspeakers mounted above the congregation and tied in visually with the beams, without disrupting sightlines,’ Shorthouse says. ‘The room is too beautiful to clutter, so the goal was to have the technology disappear into the background as much as possible.’
EM Acoustics Reference Series, and in particular their R8s, provided the perfect balance of performance and compact form factor. The loudspeakers blended in with the wood finish of the beams, with their output sufficiently high to eliminate the need for additional reinforcement.
OMS Canada redesigned the sound system entirely rather than reusing any of the previous loudspeaker locations. The new system is based around five EM Acoustics R8s mounted in a semi-circle above the sanctuary, each orientated to serve one of the five wedge-shaped seating zones. Uniquely, Reference Series enclosures ship with two interchangeable rotatable waveguides. OMS Canada used the 110° x 50° option to achieve optimal coverage for each audience section. Initially confirmed through Ease modelling, real-world implementation gave the team the confidence that an extra line of delay loudspeakers was not necessary.
The system is powered by EM Acoustics Di20 installation amplifier, whose proprietary FIR filters provide precise tuning and exceptional phase coherence. Supporting EMS-51Xloudspeakers for the choir organist and choir monitor, and an EMS-41 for the dais complete the audio system. A Soundcraft Si Performer console provides intuitive day-to-day operation for clergy members, musicians and trained volunteers.
‘At the end of the day, this wasn’t about making the system any louder – it was about making it right,’ Shorthouse reflects. ‘The EM Acoustics solution fits the architecture, respects the worship experience and gives the church exactly what they need in terms of the character of the voicing.’
‘When you walk into the room now, you don’t see the sound system,’ Misener adds. ‘That’s exactly what you want in a house of worship.’
More: www.emacoustics.co.uk