The historic St. Matthew's Catholic Church relies on Aviom's A-Net audio transport protocol to run all audio feeds throughout the church on a single Cat-5e cable.

CAMPBELLSPORT, WI-Sometimes the original intent of a thing is transcended by a higher power. So it is at the historic St. Matthew's Catholic Church, a parish established circa 1904, where Sonic Art of Oshkosh, WI recently replaced its outdated audio system.

"It had a fairly dated sound system which the congregation had outgrown, particularly because they've started offering more of a contemporary-style service, with piano, choir, and drums," said Sonic Art general manager Brian Christ. "They wanted to gain control over the system, with multiple locations." St. Matthew's has 45-foot ceilings, and is built in a traditional cruciform design. Their previous system was mounted in a room behind the altar. "Consequently no one was able to run it effectively during the service," Christ said. A separate mixer was located inside a cubbyhole and was also hard to access.

The revamped sound system's main mixing unit is housed in a portable equipment rack behind the altar that can be relocated to the balcony for special services, and also to the center of the building for church productions such as Christmas shows.

The project had inherent challenges. Any major wiring would have required core drilling through cement flooring and walls. "There were limited options for staying within budget while at the same time finding a means for wiring up the space without drilling," Christ said. "Sometimes the choir performs in the nave, but at other times in the balcony."

A rack-mounted Aviom A-16R stereo mixer with its A-16CS Control Surface remote control unit is at the heart of the St. Matthew's system, and works in tandem with a compact analog console for EQ, gain, and audio effects.￿

The idea to use the Aviom Pro16 Series hadn't crossed his mind, but when Christ revisited another project, in which Aviom's A-16R/CS combo was in use for its intended purpose as a remote station for wireless in-ear monitoring, he thought it just might work for St. Matthew's. As a result, the rack-mounted A-16R stereo mixer with its A-16CS Control Surface remote control unit became the heart of the St. Matthew's system, working in tandem with a compact analog console for EQ, gain, and audio effects. An AN-16/i Input Module, which converts 16 balanced line-level channels into 24-bit digital audio, serves as the head-end for the system. An AV-M8 Input Module connected to an AN-16/o Output Module creates a return signal from the balcony or center of the church to the front of house when the system is configured for special events.

"The entire unit at St. Matthew's runs on one Cat-5e cable, eliminating the need for multiple cables, and avoiding the need for a more complex and expensive system," Christ enthused. "They can store their presets, setting them up for different services by the default function. The Aviom control surface has very few buttons and is simple to operate."

Meanwhile, the simplicity of the Aviom system also cut the installation time in half. "We were able to add locations at the rear of the church, on the balcony, and in the nave," Christ said, pointing out that the convenience of the Cat-5e solution made these additions easy. "We were able to squeeze the cable in where there were mic jacks in the choir area and balcony. We used a cubbyhole in the balcony wall for the Aviom AV-M8."

Four Shure SLX wireless mics and a Sennheiser mic for the choir were provided. A QSC-powered line array of Innovox speakers, two on either side of the altar, was installed. "This was the first time we used the speakers after demo-ing, and we were impressed," he said. "They are extraordinarily smooth for speech application, perfect for this light application."