Another Success for Sonata
Word of mouth testimonials stemming from real life experiences are a critical part of Sonata’s success as an acoustic system, as proved to be the case with the large, modern church hall belonging to the Southport Corps of the Salvation Army.
Sound Reduction Systems Ltd (SRS) were recommended to the salvation army by Ian Bennet, a now retired local filmmaker and Media Specialist, who had benefitted from SRS’ specification services and the installation of their decorative, Class A rated Sonata Aurio acoustic panels on a previous project at Bijou cinema in Southport.
SRS were contacted by leaders at the Salvation Army, on Mr Bennett’s advice, and a time was agreed for a free of charge site visit to measure up the room in detail and talk about the noise problem being experienced. SRS Director, Alex Docherty commented:
“It was immediate clear that the salvation Army had an impressive and modern new facility to conduct their activities in but, unfortunately, the excess reverberation and echo in the main hall was causing many issues for the congregation in terms of speech intelligibility and they were finding it difficult to understand what was being said. This was down to the sheer size of the space, combined with the fact that there were virtually no soft furnishings or finishes in the room.”
After the visit, SRS were able to use their in-house software to create an acoustic model of the room and see how it was currently performing. Using the information gathered, including room dimensions and surface finishes, they were able to add exactly the right amount of their Sonata absorbers to the model to cure the problem and send the client a full report detailing the ‘before and after’ performance, a quotation, and a layout proposal of how the panels would be arranged in the hall.
A number of years passed as funding was accessed and SRS were invited back to the hall to discuss some further issues that had been occurring with the brass band. Luckily, SRS had recently completed a project for a local brass band in their practice hall and were able to put the salvation Army in touch with them so they could hear how the treatment had transformed the rehearsal space. A few adjustments were made to the original specification to take into account the location of the band in the hall and the order was placed. The fitting of the panels took place over one weekend and following the installation Mr Bennett stated:
“Although it has taken several years to get to this point, if something is worth doing then it is worth waiting for and doing it right! The service this last Sunday was wonderful. For the first time in over ten years I was able to hear every word without a constant battle with my hearing aids settings - up, down, induction loop, ambient - as the service progressed. Although no more than I expected from my experience of your work at the Bijou cinema all those years ago, what you have achieved is superb. Thank you.”
If you have a noise issue in your church or village hall and would like a free consultation please get in touch to see how SRS can help with soundproofing and sound absorption. You can email info@soundreduction.co.uk or call 01204 380074 or fill in the simple 3 Step Estimator form online for your FREE report and quote: https://www.soundreduction.co.uk/3se/.
