Zurich, Switzerland (April 20, 2022)—Zurich’s Church of St. Katharina features classic brutalist architecture that may look beautiful but it’s also acoustically challenging with reflective surfaces and an irregular floorplan. To overcome the audio issues within the church, St. Katharina turned to Renkus-Heinz for a set of compact, custom-painted Dante-enabled Iconyx Compact digitally steered arrays.
Working with AV distributor Chris Steiger, CEO of promedias AG, St. Katharina church leaders set out to address the church’s acoustic challenges including the polygonal floor plan, wooden pews and irregular projections and wall recesses.
“With an asymmetrical shape and the reflective surfaces common in brutalist-designed houses of worship, such as the sanctuary at St. Katharina, we knew the true challenge was going to be the loudspeaker selection,” said Steiger. “The ICC36/3-RD1 arrays from Renkus-Heinz were the solution the church needed for sound quality, coverage, and the high intelligibility. Plus, the minimal footprint and custom paint match of the speakers fit the aesthetic of the church very well.”
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With ICC36/3-RD1, a thirty-six-channel digital amplifier powers the array’s 36, three-inch full-range, high-sensitivity drivers. “Installing the two ICC36/3-RD1 speakers enables St. Katharina to have intelligible spoken word during services and engaging live musical performances from the band for the nearly 500-person congregation,” notes Michal Poplawski, European Technical Sales Manager for Renkus-Heinz. “The beam steering technology within the ICC36/3-RD1 arrays provide St. Katharina the sound solution for putting audio directly on the worshipers and away from the irregular and reflective architecture.”
“The church has been so happy with the even audio coverage that the new Renkus-Heinz speakers provide to its worshipers,” adds Steiger. “The custom color and compact design guarantee attention stays on the service. We couldn’t have asked for more.”
