Thousands of yearly visitors can now enjoy improved intelligibility during services
Slovenia is a country renowned for its beautiful European countryside, stunning scenery and medieval buildings. Amongst the luscious green landscapes, many historic churches can be found, built hundreds of years ago to provide a place of sanctuary and reflection. Recently, two of these ancient buildings, Basilica Brezje and St. Jernej’s Church, enlisted the help of Renkus-Heinz’s UBX loudspeakers to ensure visitors can enjoy improved speech intelligibility and clear audio.
Highly experienced acoustic engineer and project manager Mitja Borko took on the challenge to transform the sound in both venues, with a goal of enhancing clarity, increasing quality and lessening reverberation. After thoroughly testing a range of loudspeakers, the UBX Series UBX8 100V passive column loudspeaker from Renkus-Heinz emerged superior. MTD Electronics, a Renkus-Heinz partner in Slovenia, led the integration in both churches.
The UBX8 offers the renowned sound quality and accurate beam-steering technology of Renkus-Heinz’s flagship ICONYX loudspeakers in a compact passive column, making it ideal for aesthetically sensitive buildings that still require audio accuracy. Eight high-quality neodymium transducers deliver the impeccable sound needed in such revered venues. The loudspeakers’ versatile wall-mount bracket also ensured that the installation process was incredibly simple at both locations, minimising disruption for visitors and staff.
Brezje is best known as the home of Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, the largest pilgrimage church in Slovenia. This northwestern national sanctuary attracts over 400,000 visitors every year, so providing high quality audio is essential. The striking building’s high ceilings, stone walls and wide interior space caused significant reverberation in the nave. “The room required loudspeakers with a tight vertical pattern and wide horizontal dispersion, which is why I thought the UBX Series would be a good solution,” explains Borko.
The UBX8’s Passive UniBeamTM technology offers consistent coverage and constant directivity, minimising echoes so that speech is heard clearly by the whole congregation. The church’s ornate historical architecture meant there were limited options for mounting the loudspeakers; however, the UBX8’s compact form factor meant they could be placed on side pillars without disturbing the building’s aesthetics. Positioned at a 15” mechanical inclination, the loudspeakers vastly improved sound directivity.
“The UBX8 loudspeakers proved to be a perfect choice for the Basilica,” says Borko “The church is a work of art; it’s breathtaking inside. Thanks to Renkus-Heinz, the congregation can hear the liturgy clearly while basking in the visual splendour.”
The small but picturesque Church of St. Bartholomew sits on top of a hill in the village of Sveti Jernej, surrounded by fields and vineyards near Slovenia’s eastern border. Originally built in the 14th century, the church has since undergone various transformations. In 1917, it was damaged so severely by an earthquake that it could not be used for several years, eventually being repaired and reopened in 1922.
The church features a high-peaked, wood-panelled ceiling as well as many other hard surfaces, resulting in poor speech intelligibility. This often made it difficult for churchgoers to understand the worship service, so Mitja Borko once again turned to Renkus-Heinz’s trusted UBX Series to address the problem. The UBX8 passive column loudspeakers provide the precise directivity needed for such a highly reverberant space. Their compact visual profile avoids intrusion on the church’s traditional aesthetics, keeping the environment as intended.
Now, patrons can enjoy intelligible speech and crisp audio during every service. “The church staff were thrilled with the audio improvements,” notes Borko. “Masses are intelligible for the entire nave — even parishioners sitting in the back of the large sanctuary can still understand the liturgy.”
In both churches, the audio systems are supported by a Yamaha 16-channel mixing console, 31-band equalizer and a Klein Hummel power amplifier, increasing frequency response, lowering distortion and ensuring impeccable sound quality. “The improvement in speech intelligibility is remarkable. I highly recommend UBX loudspeakers for future installations,” concludes Borko.
The precise coverage, high intelligibility and outstanding quality of Renkus-Heinz’s UBX Series loudspeakers were able to transform the sound in two very special places of worship. The UBX8’s sleek, unobtrusive design allows for the seamless blending of state-of-the-art audio technology with traditional church architecture. Now, services in these unique surroundings can be enjoyed without the distraction of reverberation or muffled voices, offering a truly captivating experience for thousands of yearly visitors.
