Maaninka church, which forms part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, is a lovely traditional wooden church building with seating for 1,200 people. Designed by Finnish-Italian state architect Carlo Bassi and built by renowned Finnish church builders, Jaakko and Heikki Kuorikoski, construction was completed in 1845. The existing sound system had been in place for several years and presented a number of problems in terms of coverage and intelligibility, which was affecting the overall experience of churchgoers.
The project brought the audio system into line with modern-day expectations and improved the audio experience for everyone. Genelec’s, Marcus Kahelin, recalls that the project posed several challenges, not least was the sheer size of the space to be covered: “The inside of the church is a huge open space totalling 985 sq metres with a very high ceiling culminating in central dome,” he explained. “The shape and size of building results in a long reverberation time and a noticeable echo.”
The other consideration is that the church is a listed building, which means that you can’t just knock holes in the wall or running cables wherever you like, so they had to run everything via the roof space to reach every part of the church. Long cable runs pose a risk for sound quality and interference.
The solution in question turned out to be a distributed system using ten Genelec 8430A IP SAM monitor speakers with Genelec’s GLM 3 loudspeaker management software.
Using Genelec’s unique combination of networked loudspeakers with integrated calibration solved their problems. Known for their experience in studio monitors they applied the same quality to a live installation.
Once installed, all the loudspeakers were calibrated and tuned to the room acoustics using Genelec’s GLM 3 software. A particular feature of the system tuning for this installation was that they assigned delay to each individual loudspeaker to localize the voice to the person speaking rather than to the nearest loudspeaker using very similar principles and techniques to those used in theatre.
The aim was to have enough loudspeakers in the system so that the overall audio level could remain relatively low so as not to energize the live acoustics of the room or cause any microphone feedback issues.
The system uses a completely IP based audio system using RAVENNA audio networking, with one cable for audio and control, one network switch meant that they didn’t need long runs of analogue cabling.
Uniquely the Genelec system uses their GLM system tuning to automatically tune the system to optimise the system performance to the acoustics of the room.
The system provides even coverage and the highest quality audio over nearly 1,000 square metres, in an acoustically difficult environment.
The project delivers premium audio quality and clear, uncoloured sound, with the units mounted in carefully acoustically selected locations throughout the church to enable the focus and voice localisation to remain in the correct direction and to sound as natural as possible. The wide dispersion angle of the 8430As meant that we were able to achieve good coverage throughout all the seating areas.
The use of an IP based system simplified cabling and allowed them to have individual control over each loudspeaker, utilising the built in signal processing in each loudspeaker. Cabling cost was lower and interference free than a traditional analogue approach.
Additionally, the client opted for a custom colour finish for the 8430As, enabling them to blend seamlessly into the traditional wooden environment of the church
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