Clients: Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Project date: 2025.
Project type: Pro Audio,
The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is located in Rijeka, specifically in the neighborhood of Zamet. It is one of the earlier sacred buildings in the western area of Rijeka. The church was built in the early 20th century, specifically in 1912, on a site that was then the center of a growing local community. With its simple facade, integrated bell tower, and modest architectural features, it reflects the typology of local churches from the early 20th century. It is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a symbol of God’s gentleness and mercy. Upon its construction, the church became the spiritual stronghold of the local community, and since 1998 it has functioned as an independent parish. Today, it serves as an important pastoral and social hub where liturgical functions, parish life, and the heritage value of the space intertwine.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish entrusted us with the task of replacing the dilapidated audio system of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zamet. After developing the project, recognizing the challenges of acoustics in religious buildings, we offered a solution based on Renkus-Heinz and RCF components. After the client approved our solution, we started implementing the new audio infrastructure.
The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus consists of a nave with seating area, a raised sanctuary with an altar, an apse with an entrance to the sacristy, and a choir below which is the entrance hall. To achieve the necessary coverage and clarity of sound and reduce reflections that create echoes for the sound system of the nave, we implemented two Renkus-Heinz UBX8 passive directional beam-steering loudspeaker in white. The UBX series provides precise coverage, high intelligibility and recognizable Renkus-Heinz sound quality. The UBX8 is a passive column speaker that come with eight neodymium 3” Full-Range drivers. Speaker has a vertical angle of +5°/-15° and uses passive UniBeam technology, which processes each driver. It achieves asymmetric vertical dispersion with constant directivity, which provides consistent coverage with minimal reflections from the sides, which reduces the echo of the space. In the apse area at the exit from the sacristy and in the choir, we installed two more loudspeakers from the same series, Renkus-Heinz UBX4 passive directional loudspeaker. Their implementation resulted in increased sound coverage in more secluded spaces. In the entrance area and sacristy, we implemented RCF MR 40T two-way bass reflex speakers so that the liturgy could be heard in areas outside the central part. For the same purpose, i.e. for listening to the liturgy in the courtyard, we implemented two RCF MQ 80P two-way I55 wall-mounted speakers with a constant directivity of 90° x 60° on the facade of the church. Since the audio system is passive, we installed an XTA DNA 20-4T digital four-channel amplifier in a rack cabinet located in the sacristy. The entire audio system is controlled by an Allen&Heath CQ12T 12-channel digital audio mixer.
New Audix microphone solutions were placed on the altar and pulpit. There is an AUDIX M1250BS condenser supercardioid microphone on the altar, and an AUDIX MICROPOD6 modular gooseneck microphone system consisting of an M1255B supercardioid condenser microphone is placed on the pulpit. We used supercardioid microphones because of their directional characteristics, which help reduce the creation of microphonics from the room.
In addition to the installation of the system, programming and user training were performed, along with the commissioning of the system. The client is very satisfied with the implemented solution, which provides clear and natural sound with very high coverage of the entire space.
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