40 FEATURE: HERITAGE BUILDINGS
replace dozens of conventional loudspeakers,” he adds. Mochi agrees that column arrays are the preferred option: “Traditional speakers tend to distribute the sound in all directions, resulting in a great deal of energy sent to the walls and ceiling. To avoid the resulting reflections, the sound beam must be focused on the vertical plane, meaning the sound energy is concentrated along the axis of the diffuser and not distributed towards the ceiling. The narrow vertical coverage minimises the sound spill towards the ceiling and the floor, thus increasing the intelligibility in highly reverberant environments. This behaviour is all the more accentuated the longer the column is.” Limiting sound reflections, while minimising aesthetic impact, is a constant battle for audio companies. “To be pedantic, there’s nothing that the sound system can do to reduce reverberation – that’s an acoustic property of the room,” states Mobley. “What can be done with the sound system is to increase the ratio of direct sound, sound that arrives at the listener’s ears directly from the loudspeaker, to the reverberant sound, sound that’s bounced off one or more things in the room. “The only way to make a loudspeaker directional is to make it large in at least one
dimension. This is why arrays, particularly of the steerable column variety, are so popular in reverberant rooms. They are big in only one dimension – height – the other dimensions are reduced to the absolute minimum, making them easier to hide.”
Extra considerations The nature of heritage building projects is that along with sound and lighting, there are a number of extra considerations that need to be taken into account. “In terms of labour costs, you need to be honest and appreciate that things don’t happen quickly in listed buildings,” comments Glynn. “Many of the projects we’ve worked on have required weeks and even months of sign-off time. Therefore, you need to ensure that you plan efficiently so that the execution of an event can be run smoothly on the day as, chances are, you won’t be able to make any last minute changes.” In addition, there are understandably higher levels of bureaucracy associated with heritage and listed building projects. Glynn explains further: “This is mainly due to these buildings having such historical importance and often housing priceless artefacts and displays. That said, these are there for a reason and so you should be incorporating these in your pre-
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planning. It’s important to let your client know the restrictions and then use these to decide what technical set-up will be achievable.” As Mochi details, this means audio companies often have to rely more heavily on stacking and joining accessories. “At times, we are prohibited from mounting a speaker onto a wall but luckily, we have many joining hardware and stacking accessories that allow for a variety of set-ups for integrators to adapt the installation.” So it’s fair to deduce that all these limitations must place a greater burden on the integrator. “These obviously do affect the integrator but it’s a case of using these restrictions and formulating a creative technical solution around them,” says Glynn. “For instance, at WL, we are approved suppliers to HRP (Historic Royal Palaces) and UVL (Unique Venues of London) venues, many of which have been around for centuries. It’s about knowing what is possible within the venue, drawing on the technology that will work within that space and delivering something which combines the latest technology with historic architecture.”
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