Highland Park Presbyterian
Church
Dallas, Texas


Project Completion: 2004
A/V Installation: Ford Audio-Video
AD Scope: Audio Renovation

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In places of worship, there is the need to design a sound system that is equally effective in delivering intelligibility and musicality. Another factor all too often overlooked is that of designing a system that fits the room not just sonically, but visually.

Such was the circumstance at Highland Park Presbyterian, which was originally built in 1938. While breathtaking to behold, it represented a potential sonic nightmare, as the room’s acoustical design lends itself well to choir and pipe organ but wreaks havoc with speech intelligibility.

A number of solutions were attempted over the course of more than a decade, and while there was at least some improvement, the intelligibility factor continued to be somewhat elusive. Experiments with concealing speakers within the chandeliers, while visually favorable, were only marginally successful. When AD was asked to tackle the problem, they were able to design a system that sounded more like a hi-fi system than a P.A. The system also blends into the architecture very well.

Shortly after the new system was installed, John Eldridge, the technical advisor at Highland Park Presbyterian said, “I was asked recently how my supply of ear buds for the assisted listening systems was holding up, and I told them no one even asks for the systems anymore. We’ve finally got a sound system where everyone can hear.”