‘Smallest cathedral in Britain’ fitted with JBL sound system

The 15th-century St Asaph’s Cathedral, in north-east Wales, has recently undergone a comprehensive upgrade of its audio system that combines Harman’s JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown CDi Series amplifiers, BSS processing and AKG microphones.

The cathedral – which is recognised as the smallest in Britain and one of the oldest in Wales – asked Richard King Systems to overhaul of its system.

In designing the system, the company’s manager, Richard Hughes, was mindful of the need to deliver outstanding audio performance, while minimising the visual impact on the interior of the Grade-I listed cathedral.

He opted to base his solution on Harman’s JBL Professional’s CBT column loudspeakers, which are designed to deliver highly intelligible audio in reverberant acoustic spaces.

In total, 14 CBT 50 and four CBT 100 column speakers have been installed. In the nave and under the tower, flush brackets have been used, with CBT 50s in the south aisle and presbytery coupled with angled brackets for optimum sound.

Multiple Harman AKG gooseneck microphones have been installed in fixed positions, with nine AKG WMS470 wireless microphone systems available when needed.

To optimise the performance, and to provide ease of use for operators, the system design incorporates a Harman BSS BLU-100 signal processor and its companion iPad app. 

“Behind the scenes, we have included automatic mixer control and scene selection, which results in operators having a system that is straightforward to use,” says Hughes.