HK Audio has helped transform the sound at Christ Church Kowloon Tong, where a new loudspeaker installation has significantly improved speech intelligibility for its congregation.
Built in 1937, Christ Church Kowloon Tong is a historic Anglican church whose modern Gothic architecture has been carefully preserved for nearly nine decades. Its high ceilings and reflective surfaces create long reverberation times, however, make clear speech reproduction particularly difficult. Any attempt to overcome the problem had to sit sympathetically within the church’s historic interior, as Tones Tailor learned when accepting the task of supplying and installing a new system to replace the analogue installation that had served the church for more than 20 years.
‘Our previous sound system had been running for more than 20 years and we were looking to move from analogue to digital,’ explains Raymond WC Chan of Christ Church. ‘We finally chose Tones Tailor because they understood the background of the church, especially its aesthetic elements.’
The project centred on HK Audio’s SI Series P10i and P10j column loudspeakers, chosen for their ability to deliver clear, controlled coverage in one of the most acoustically challenging environments. With both performance and appearance equally important, Tones Tailor designed the system around P10 column loudspeakers. The installation also includes a SI Series S 210 subwoofer for music and live events, along with Fineo FO5 and FO8 loudspeakers for front fill and monitoring, creating a complete solution capable of handling everything from spoken word to musical performances.
‘Because of its long reverberation time, the church has a very challenging acoustic environment,’ says Howard Chan of Tones Tailor. ‘There were also high expectations for how the system would look, you don’t want anything to stand out too much in a historical building like this.
‘Thankfully, the HK Audio column system offered excellent vertical dispersion, helping us reduce reflections from the ceiling and walls. The P10 also gave us flexible mounting options, allowing the loudspeakers to integrate neatly into the building while delivering excellent performance.’
The final installation has transformed the listening experience for both the church and its congregation. ‘Tones Tailor did a great job proposing the right solution,’ adds Chan. ‘It has solved almost 90 per cent of the problems we experienced before.
‘After installation and commissioning, the client was extremely happy with the results. Speech intelligibility has improved hugely and they were equally pleased with how discreet the loudspeakers look. The final performance was very close to our acoustic simulations and the system sounded excellent straight out of the box.’
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