Maris Stella, named after the patron saint of the busy port city of Incheon in South Korea, is a comprehensive senior care facility established in 2013 by the Catholic Foundation. The first of its kind in the country, Maris Stella provides an integrated programme of pastoral care for its residents with a rich offering of social and cultural events and pastimes, plus the daily celebration of Mass in the facility’s dedicated 400-seat auditorium – which also hosts lectures, film screenings and live performances.
A decade on from its initial construction, the decision was made to upgrade the audio system to improve both quality and intelligibility. KV2 distributor, Daon SD collaborated with audio consultants Audio Control to supply and install a pair of ESR106 active column loudspeakers to elevate the worship experience and improve sound quality for all the other events hosted by the venue.
Audio Control CEO Mr Noh and the church’s head priest had several factors to consider when selecting a new system for the hall. The previous system relied on multiple full-range loudspeakers distributed throughout the space. In addition to being visually intrusive, both coverage and sound quality left much to be desired, particularly in terms of vocal intelligibility. The clerical staff were keen to resolve these issues and turned to Mr Noh for advice.
Having had several demos of KV2 systems from Daon SD, Mr Noh was convinced that KV2 would be the right solution for the auditorium. Indeed, it was the demo of the EX Series that clinched the deal, even though ultimately, Mr Noh proposed a different solution – the elegant ESR106 active column array system. ESR106 deploys multiple 6-inch woofers and a single 1-inch high frequency driver mounted on a wide dispersion horn for unparalleled high quality vocal and music reproduction in challenging acoustical spaces and ambient environments. Mounted to the left and right of the stage, this proved to be an excellent choice for the auditorium where the relatively low ceiling height compared to the depth of the room was something of a challenge.
“In order to secure the loudspeakers to the wall we customised the wall mounting hardware so that we could mount the cabinets safely on the striated wooden wall cladding,” recalls Daon SD’s John Park. “In an ideal world we’d have raised the installation height slightly to ensure optimum coverage for both the front and back rows, but the configuration of the room didn’t allow us to do that. However, once we turned the loudspeakers on, all our concerns were forgotten. Crystal clear sound filled the room from front to back – in fact the coverage and throw of the ESR106s defies common sense! The clarity and intelligibility – even from the back seats which are 25m away from the stage – are simply in a different league to the previous system. It’s hard to believe that this is possible from just two enclosures.
“We were delighted when the head priest and the rest of the clerical staff reported back to us in the weeks following the installation that both engagement and concentration during the services had improved significantly, making the celebrations more meaningful and enjoyable for all.”
