The Memorial Chapel, a historic 500-seat church building on the campus of Emory & Henry College in southwestern Virginia that has served as host to thousands of worship services and special events, was recently outfitted with a new sound reinforcement system incorporating Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers and supporting components.
“The previous installation used ceiling speakers that were installed 35 to 40 feet in the air,” explains Justin Plaster of JMP Productions, the Hillsville, VA-based integration firm that handled the project. “This prior design required the speakers to be quite loud to drive sound to event and worship service attendees. With the reverberant nature of the Chapel as well as the height and arch of the ceiling, this made intelligibility of the audio from those speakers very poor. The system was also quite dated.”
In addition to the need for a new sound system, the chapel’s historic nature also posed an additional challenge. “Any time you’re working to improve sound in a historic location, there are challenges,” notes Jay Andrews, regional sales manager for Danley Sound Labs. “The installation required that there could be no alteration or structural change to the room. This meant that each speaker needed to blend into its surroundings so they felt invisible.”
To meet the installation requirements, Danley Sound Labs was able to match the paint color throughout the room to allow the loudspeakers to better blend in with their new surroundings. The system utilizes SBH20 full-range loudspeakers as mains, Cube loudspeakers for mid-delay and Nano loudspeakers for rear-delay loudspeakers. Audio power is delivered by Danley DNA 10K4 Pro amplifiers.
“By using the Danley Cube and Nano loudspeakers, we were able to keep all points of sound near those in attendance,” Plaster explains. “installing the speakers lower in the room rather than in the ceiling, we could prevent sound reflection in the upper ceiling of the chapel and improve sound quality. Plus, there is nothing quite like the intelligibility you get from Danley products.”
Mark Graham, vice president for administration and general counsel of Emory & Henry College, adds, “The sound in Memorial Chapel is much improved as compared to just a few months ago. Students, alumni and church members have all commented on the sound and vocal clarity throughout the chapel.”