Yunus Emre Camii Turkish mosque in Genk, Belgium has solved its intelligibility and reliability issues by installing a new sound system featuring Community’s ENTASYS loudspeakers.
The project was awarded to Hifi Center Herteleer, Kristof Broux explained: “The budget was tight and we were the most expensive, so to convince them of our ability to deliver the best audio solution in such a large and acoustically difficult building we arranged a demonstration of the loudspeakers and microphones on site.”
Broux, who designed the system himself, continued: “The entire floor of the mosque is covered with thick woollen carpet, so floor reflections are reduced but the domed ceiling creates a tremendous echo, far greater than I’ve heard in any church before. The solution was to use loudspeakers that could cover such a large area, but with such tightly controlled vertical dispersion that no sound was directed into the dome. We chose Community’s ENTASYS, as it met these parameters perfectly, and is well proven for its excellent intelligibility.”
Community loudspeakers are placed throughout with two ENTASYS full-range column line-array systems in the mosque’s main area, with one pair of C SERIES CS4s providing delay fill at the back. Four I/O5 loudspeakers cover the area for women only, also located at the back of the mosque, and four all-weather R.25 loudspeakers are used in the minaret, providing 360° coverage outside for the call to prayers.
In addition to the Community loudspeakers, Broux’s used nine Clock Audio mics connected to a Behringer mixer, with J B Systems amplifiers powering the internal loudspeakers and a larger Crown amplifier powering the R.25s in the minaret. DSP is handled by a dbx DriveRack PA2 loudspeaker management system.
Broux concluded: “The new system has transformed the sound quality in the mosque. Whether the imam is praying softly, or singing out loud, the intelligibility and coverage throughout is simply superb.”
