Colombia. The Cathedral of the city of Medellín is a neo-Romanesque architectural jewel that took more than 100 years to complete. To change its sound system, which had not been renewed for several years, the company AVTech Ltda. was appointed.
AVI Latin America spoke with José Rojano, manager of the firm, who highlighted that "Since we have been at the helm of AVTech, we have been faced with a series of quite interesting challenges. Just at the beginning of 2023 we received a call from the person in charge of the Cathedral of Medellín asking us for a recommendation and proposal to improve the sound system that they had had for more than 40 years. It literally didn't give results to parishioners or their religious leaders, it was torture to hold any event in that venue, absolutely nothing was understood."
The Cathedral has 4608 m² on the general floor and 7300 m² of total built area with a height of 53.20mts. Considered one of the main architectural works of the country and declared a National Monument of Colombia.
"This in itself becomes a great challenge to overcome, since in another place these processes could be executed quickly and very easily, because here there is no option to alter anything from the point of view of civil works and the like... It is necessary to apply or enable 100% ingenuity and creativity to achieve the objectives of connectivity, cable laying and location of speakers that do not affect or threaten the aesthetics and regulations of the title held by the venue. Additionally, work schedules are subject to availability between homilies. Great challenge literally," added Jose Rojano.
After carrying out the previous technical studies that validate the acoustic reality of the place, they decided to request the consortium of the engineer Juan Fernando Montoya, with whom, together with a multidisciplinary team, the appropriate technology was chosen and finally the installation of the new digital sound system for the Metropolitan Cathedral, allowing a significant change and highly appreciated and valued by the parishioners who declare that they now manage to understand and enjoy each homily.
"We have had first-hand testimonies from people with hearing impairments who nevertheless now enjoy visiting the church and the messages are received with complete clarity. The process of tuning and adjustments is part of the journey that is attended to for a prudent time while confirming the handling and mastery of the state-of-the-art technology installed," concluded José Rojano.
