St James the Apostle Parish has proudly served its local Catholic community in Hoppers Crossing for over two decades. Mindful of the rapid population growth of Melbourne’s outer western suburbs at the turn of the century, local parish priests from the nearby St Peter Apostle Mission purchased a ten-acre wheat paddock, which would become the future site of St Peter Apostle Primary School and its resident church, St James the Apostle Parish.
Originally constructed in 2000, the church has become a multicultural hub of worship and community activities. Late 2019 saw the church enter a complete rebuild phase, with the structure being redesigned from the ground up to accommodate modernized facilities and a growing community base. As part of the redesign, AV professionals at RTR Productions were consulted on supply and setup of a new PA system that would meet the church’s needs. An RCF HDL 6-A line array system was chosen for the parish and installed by integration specialist Digital Link Solutions.
Drew Menard, General Manager of RTR Productions, explains why the RCF HDL system was chosen:
“As the parish is a multicultural space, attendees are often people for whom English is a second language, making voice reinforcement a priority. The parish was willing to invest in this HDL solution to ensure verbal intelligibility within the space. A line array system gives us more control over where the audio is delivered, providing clarity for voice, whilst also being powerful enough to handle light-to-moderate live music requirements.”
St James the Apostle Parish features 3 x HDL 6-A modules a side, each individually capable of an impressive 131 dB max SPL, with a linear frequency response of 65Hz–20,000Hz.
The HDL 6-A from RCF is a low weight, ultra-compact line array system designed for consistent long-term performance. The system’s combination of full-range, high quality audio reproduction and low-profile aesthetics have helped solidify the Italian brand’s HDL technology as a highly dependable option for installation professionals seeking line array capabilities in an unobtrusive form factor.
“The HDL system has certainly garnered some praise here since its installation, but even before then we had the architects from Smith + Tracey, who were overseeing the parish rebuild, impressed by the system’s capabilities. Smith + Tracey were very focused on the overall result for the client- acoustics included- and were going to add reflection absorbing materials to the build. However, after looking into the capabilities of the HDL system, they concluded with us that investing more on controlling the sound via line array- instead of a simpler PA and acoustic treatment combination- was the superior option.”
With its feature-rich design, advanced DSP processing and RCF’s FiRPHASE phase alignment technology, RCF’s HDL 6-A was the ideal choice for adding verbal intelligibility and an improved listening experience to the parish’s faculties.
In addition to the primary PA inside the church, the parish’s external alcoves have also been fitted with 8” weatherproof speakers from Quest Engineering- giving the parish the option of allowing audio from inside to be heard outside- especially useful for when the external areas are being utilized as an event space.
Quest’s MX801 are high-fidelity loudspeakers designed with architecture and installation in mind- offering powerful full-range audio coverage for the budget conscious. The MX801’s sleek, unobtrusive cabinets are often relied upon to help blend them into their environment, whilst their installer-friendly mounting system has made them popular with integrators.
