Giving a brand-new church its voice
Our Lady Star of the Sea in Jurien Bay is a brand-new church, and its sound had to be right from day one. Smooth plasterboard walls and ceilings look clean and modern, but they bounce sound around the room. We designed a complete audio and visual system around that challenge, with Bose DesignMax speakers spread throughout the church so every pew hears clearly.
Outside, two more pairs of weatherproof speakers cover the shaded outdoor area, so people gathered there can still take part. With lectern, headset and choir microphones, and a monitor for the musicians, the system is clear in every part of the church and straightforward for the parish to run.
A beautiful room that bounced every word
A new building is a blank canvas, but a room finished in plasterboard poses a classic acoustic problem. Hard, flat surfaces send sound straight back into the space instead of absorbing it, so words smear into reverberation and consonants disappear. Turning one big speaker up to reach the back pews would only make things worse.
The solution: sound close to every pew
Instead of one big source, we used many small ones. Four pairs of Bose DesignMax DM6SE speakers are spread around the inside of the church, so every pew sits close to a speaker and the system can run at a modest level. Lower levels put less energy into the walls, which means fewer reflections and clearer words. A Bose PowerMatch PM4500N amplifier drives them, and its configurable processing lets us shape the system to the room.
Voices first
Clear speech starts at the microphone. A Shure gooseneck microphone sits close to the speaker’s mouth at the lectern, and two Shure BLX14R/MX53 wireless headset systems keep the microphone at the same short distance even when the speaker moves. Close microphones need little gain, which keeps the room’s reflections out of the signal and keeps feedback at bay. RØDE M5 microphones look after the choir.
For the musicians, and for the grounds
Musicians have their own monitor, a Bose S1 Pro+, so they can hear themselves without the main speakers being turned up. A Behringer X Air XR18 digital mixer ties the system together and gives precise control of every channel. Outside, IP55-rated DM6SE speakers cover the covered outdoor area, so the sound follows the congregation out the door.
Two principles drive this design. First, distributed sound: many small speakers close to the listeners, running at a low level, build far less reverberation in a hard-surfaced room than one large speaker working hard. Second, gain before feedback: close microphones capture mostly direct voice, so the mixer needs less gain, the room’s reflections stay out of the signal and the system stays stable. The DM6SE’s coaxial design, with the tweeter inside the woofer, behaves as a single point source, which helps keep the sound consistent across the listening area.