The Brühl Islamic Community Centre has been active in the community for more than 40 years. Since 2000 the association has been based in Bergerstraße in the east of Brühl. Around 1,000 people visit the community centre every week. Through various events and activities as an Islamic congregation, it promotes intercultural and interfaith life in Brühl.
In 2015 planning permission was granted for the new Brühl mosque. Its heart is the prayer hall, which seats about 1,000 people. A MONACOR sound system now ensures very good speech intelligibility throughout the mosque, despite demanding and difficult room acoustics.
Requirement
Sound in places of worship such as synagogues, churches or mosques regularly poses special challenges: speech intelligibility, sound distribution and user-friendly, intuitive operation are some of the parameters to consider. The sound system in the new mosque was to cover above all the prayer hall with its gallery, the foyer and further ancillary rooms. The absolute priority was the best possible speech intelligibility with coverage as even as possible. The speakers were to blend unobtrusively into the existing architecture of the building.
Solution
A 3-zone solution built around the PA-4120D class-D power amplifier was implemented for the mosque. Up to four amplifier channels allow the volume of each of the three zones to be adjusted individually.
The prayer hall including the gallery is covered by twelve high-quality PA column speakers in aluminium profile housings in total: at the front, two ETS-422TW/WS (20 W) serve the near field to the right and left of the centre, and two ETS-442TW/WS (40 W) were installed along the sides. The gallery and the area beneath it are each covered by four ETS-422TW/WS. Thanks to their 2-way design with an additional tweeter, both speaker models deliver excellent sound. The tiltable and swivelling aluminium wall bracket allows precise aiming and straightforward mounting on columns or pillars, for instance.
Both speaker models, the ETS-442TW/WS (40 W) and the ETS-422TW/WS (20 W), are elegant and restrained in design and therefore blend beautifully into the architecture of the mosque. The sound is aimed directly at the listeners, and speech in particular is well understood throughout the prayer hall.
Versatile microphone technology for different use cases
A versatile microphone setup is available for Quran readings, prayers and chanting: the prayer pulpits use GML-5218 electret gooseneck microphones. Three interchangeable microphone capsules with different polar patterns (cardioid, supercardioid and omnidirectional) are included, so the optimal solution can always be found for different applications. They run on external phantom power or from the ST-5030 table stand.
In addition there is a 2-channel wireless system UF-20R/5 with the dynamic UHF PLL handheld transmitter JSS-20/5 from JTS: the integrated REMOSET® function allows the microphone setup to be operated with no prior knowledge of wireless transmission — at the push of a button the JSS-20/5 wireless microphone is set to the transmission frequency selected on the receiver. To increase range and immunity to interference, two passive ANT-49 UHF wideband omnidirectional antennas are connected to the UF-20R/5 receiver. This ensures consistently good reception without interruption at all times.
The microphone setup also includes a TXS-727HSE/B 2-channel audio transmission system with two pocket transmitters and headband microphones with back electret capsules. The HSE‑110 headset is designed specifically for speech applications that call for plenty of freedom of movement. Its discreet build means it can be worn unobtrusively on the head.
As an alternative or in addition, a dynamic DM-730S microphone from IMG STAGELINE (supercardioid) is used. Thanks to a feature set aimed specifically at speech, everyone involved — speakers and visitors alike — benefits from a clear, natural sound throughout the mosque at all times.
Florian Welzbacher, project design specialist at MONACOR, sums up the result:
