In houses of worship, intelligibility of the spoken word is crucial, something both the
clergy as well as the technical crew of God’s houses have become aware of. The
Belgian national basilica, the “Basiliek van Koekelberg’, is the country’s largest
church, (the world’s fifth largest basilica) and used for big national ceremonies and
services with international acclaim.
It’s cross shaped base-form with a 2500 capacity main nave and big side aisles,
each with a capacity of some 250 visitors, a depth of 60m./197ft. plus the 7
seconds reverb made the assignment to provide accurate sound reinforcement a
true challenge for audio company Pa-P.A and Alcons’ engineer Philip de Haan.
After a first demo-session with Alcons QR36 sets equipped with double RBN1801
pro-ribbon HF drivers: two columns in the main “national’ nave of the Basilica, one
column in the “parish’ nave, where it excelled over the existing recently installed
beam-steered system in the A/B test, the church management decided to invest in
the Alcons system. “The result of the tests was astonishing and far better than the
telephone-sound they had before,’ enthuses Luc De Paepe, managing director of
Pa.P.A, “And the church administration gave the green light for an Alcons
configuration in the national nave. The QR36 was designed for difficult acoustic
environments, but the national Basilica became the first church to install a set –
contrary to most line array systems (“that still have too much dispersion’) they
offer a perfect, almost absolute 3° vertical dispersion angle, projecting the sound
right to the church audience.’
Basiliek 109With the Basilica’s architect Jos Van den Breeden, the Alcons QR36
speaker enclosures were tailored to fit the monumental architecture, and Alcons’
engineers configured the system from two meter QR36 columns, to obtain the
perfect sound for the church. The speakers and custom stands were supplied in a
special RAL “ancient’ green finish, contrasting with the basilica interior and
terracotta-finished pillars.
Each of the QR36 combinations was equipped with an additional Alcons VR8 full
range speaker cabinet for out-fill – with large worship services, the VR8’s are used
as monitor speakers for the choir and in the side aisles.
The system was “baptised’ during a celebration for the Belgian army and in a
ceremony with Congolese Bishop Monsengwo and stood the test glamorously. “We
as a church attach much importance to God’s word – if one cannot understand this,
there’s no reason for gathering in this church,’ says Basilica rector Herman Cosijns.
“More than the evolution in experiencing religion, with music and choir, the word is
crucial. It’s great that we have been able to purchase this equipment with the
support and donations of so many in the archbishopric.’
