AV specialists DM Music, based in Hertfordshire, England, recently installed Allen & Heath AHM-64 audio matrix processors in three house of worship systems, including at Gloucester Cathedral, Holy Trinity Guildford, and Christchurch Priory in Dorset in projects prioritizing versatility and operational simplicity.
“Audio performance in churches is always important of course, particularly with regard to speech intelligibility, but alongside that, usability by non-professional users is always a paramount consideration for us,” explains Graham Bennewith of DM Music. “There’s no point specifying hugely powerful systems that are impossible to use by the volunteers who tend to make up church sound teams.”
The AHM-64 is a 64×64 matrix processor designed to allow integrators to more quickly create scalable systems, supported by an ecosystem of I/O, control and Dante options. Bennewith notes, “One of the great things with the AHM-64 is that it allows huge options in terms of connectivity and control. We installed a Crestron touchscreen at Gloucester Cathedral, for example, and an Allen & Heath IP8 remote controller at Christchurch Priory — it allows us to specify a wide variety of control options depending on customer needs.”
For the Guildford install, DM Music took advantage of the AHM-64’s connectivity options to integrate additional Allen & Heath components to meet a diverse set of requirements. “While the three systems are regularly used for fairly straightforward speech reinforcement, at Holy Trinity in Guildford the AHM-64 is used in conjunction with an Allen & Heath SQ-5 digital mixer and DT168 AudioRack, Bennewith concludes. “Here, the system can handle everything from simple multiple microphone setups to fairly complex musical lineups, but it’s still possible for a volunteer to operate with minimal training. It’s a wonderful solution for situations like this.”
