Old St Paul’s is a historic Anglican church on Mulgrave Street, Wellington built between 1865 and 1866. Considered one of New Zealand’s greatest heritage places, it is no longer a parish church but a popular venue for weddings, funerals, concerts and services. The church is an example of Gothic Revival architecture and is now managed by Heritage New Zealand.
The church was closed between May 2019 and July 2020 for seismic strengthening work. Heritage New Zealand wanted to take the opportunity to revisit the in-house AV system while the strengthening work was taking place.
The AV system was old and unreliable and the loudspeakers did not provide the quality the customer required in terms of fidelity and coverage. AV integration company Audio Workshop was commissioned to provide a sound and video solution for the church. The objective was to provide a sound system that provided consistent coverage for background music and speech with high intelligibility. The video system needed to be easy to use and easy for the venue staff to set up.
An additional design challenge was to meet the historical architectural requirements of the space, working alongside the architect and within their vision. The design needed to consider where the AV equipment could be attached while also factoring in the look of the design in an historical space. While working on the design considerations, Audio Workshop ensured they were not compromising on functionality and quality while also working within the constraints of an overall architectural design.
Audio Workshop selected a BSS BLU-100 configurable networked signal processor for audio processing and control, using Audio Architect Motion Control on an iPad, fixed at the tech desk area in a Heckler wall plate. The iPad can run on a LAN connection powered via POE which keeps the iPad charged.
“Audio Workshop’s design for Old St Paul’s has resulted in a sound system that provides excellent audio coverage throughout the church with loudspeakers providing exceptional quality sound for speech.”
JBL CBT50 column speakers and Control 28-1 loudspeakers, custom-painted to blend in with the native timber interior, were selected due to their reliability and performance. The JBL CBT50s were specifically chosen for their appearance, audio properties and design, as at 500mm long and slim, they could be mounted between the timber work and not be noticeable. Due to JBL’s Constant Beamwidth Technology in the column-shaped speaker, the CBT-50s are able to provide high speech intelligibility and consistent coverage in challenging acoustic environments.
Due to its open-architecture platform, the BSS BLU-100 processor not only provided exceptional audio processing but was used to control the Kramer Matrix switcher for video.
“The design is discreet, with the loudspeakers placed in such a way that they met the architect’s goal of a non-visible sound system.”
The design by Audio Workshop for Old St Paul’s has resulted in a sound system that provides excellent audio coverage throughout the church with loudspeakers providing exceptional quality sound for speech. The design is discreet, with the loudspeakers placed in such a way that they met the architect’s goal of a non-visible sound system. The video system provides a reliable, easy to use platform for venue staff that is also physically manageable. The overall system design provides all the functionality required while also working within the limits of the historical building.
