UK-based integrator Autograph Sales and Installations has installed a new EM Acoustics HALO-C compact line array system at Bath City Church.
First opened as a cinema in 1934, The Forum (as the building is known) has seen plenty of change over the years, having also operated as a bingo hall and a dance school before Bath City Church found a home there in 1989. This led to restoration of the 1600-capactiy venue.
Today The Forum is not just a church, but also Bath’s biggest venue and the third largest seated auditorium in the south west of England.
More recently, it was the turn of the audio infrastructure to receive a similar overhaul in order to bring the systems up to date. Autograph Sales & Installations were awarded the contract upgrade the sound reinforcement system.
“Like most rooms originally designed to deliver sound to a large audience without amplification, The Forum presented real challenges when designing and installing a sound reinforcement system,” said Autograph¹s project manager Chris Austin. “Fortunately we’ve worked in numerous locations of this kind previously, and we found HALO-C to be the perfect choice for the project.”
Autograph Sales & Installations deployed 14 HALO-C cabinets in total – seven each side go the main stage – and fitted EM Acoustics EMS-51s speakers to the stage lip via custom brackets for front fill. The system is powered by Lab.gruppen PLM amplifiers running across Dante with an DIGiCo SD9 digital console at FOH. Austin added that the Dante digital network also contributed to keeping costs down as it significantly reduced the need for expensive copper cabling.
The new system provides seamless coverage of the stalls as specified in the brief. The team also designed-in a future fit option for the balcony: the system can be expanded by easily integrating extra EM Halo Compact loudspeakers if necessary, without the need for re-tuning.
