Case StudY
St Mary's in the Marketplace Church, Stockport
St Mary’s in the Marketplace Church is the oldest parish church in Stockport, Greater Manchester and stands in Churchgate overlooking the market place. A designated Grade I listed building with history dating back to the 12th Century, the church designed by architect Lewis Wyatt and has been at the heart of the local community for hundreds of years.
Local audio-visual company, Kirkpatrick Sound Engineering were called in by St Mary’s in the Marketplace Church to recently upgrade the existing audio system to improve the intelligibility and coverage of the sound system within the church.
Roy Kirkpatrick MInstSCE for Kirkpatrick Sound Engineering commented “Due to the architectural sensitivity of the building we chose to use Active Audio RayOn loudspeakers. The unique step-array design allows sound to be passively steered to specific congregational areas which means we were able to provide improved coverage with a smaller number of loudspeakers, using just two of the RayOn R100 column loudspeaker and three of the shorter RayOn R60TC column loudspeakers”.
“We enhanced the low-end frequency response of the system by adding an Audac subwoofer, relevant for improving the playback of music only especially organ music, through the system”, added Kirkpatrick.
The Active Audio RayOn column loudspeakers, mounted discreetly on columns throughout the church, are powered from a series of multi-channel DSP amplifiers receiving audio from an Allen & Heath ZED-Series mixer used for mixing sound sources from a number of radio microphones and one hardwired hyper cardioid gooseneck microphone for the pulpit an CD/SD card player was also installed in the church.
Kirkpatrick Sound Engineering sourced most of the equipment for the St Mary’s in the Marketplace Church project from specialist audio distributor Commercial Audio Solutions, located in the Peak District in Derbyshire.
“We managed to achieve a very natural sound with minimal aesthetic disruption to this historic church building, which is very pleasing for us and the church. This was achieved with the help and support of the team at Commercial Audio Solutions who provided help with the system design, product demonstrations and of course immediate supply of the products for this wonderful project”, summarised Kirkpatrick.
Equipment List: 2 x Active Audio R100 Column Loudspeaker, 3 x Active Audio R60TC Column Loudspeaker
Further information
Commercial Audio Solutions
From their base in the Peak District of Derbyshire, Commercial Audio distributes professional audio products to all corners of the UK and overseas, holding stock of many of the world’s most prestigious brands, including Bosch, Sennheiser, JBL, Yamaha, RCF and Audio Technica. With over 40 years experience our aim is to offer customers the very best possible service. From the smallest background music system to huge stadium venues, we can supply.
Kirkpatrick Sound Engineering
Kirkpatrick sound engineering supply and install professional audio equipment and sound systems either from main agents or directly from the manufacturer, using experience and expertise to help customers source the best equipment for their needs.
Located in Knutsford, Cheshire the company is owned by Roy D. Kirkpatrick, MInstSCE who has been designing and installing sound systems for more than forty years.