Reformed Church, Thalwil (Switzerland)

In 1159, a church in Thalwil ("tellowilare") is mentioned in a document for the first time. It is thus one of the oldest church buildings on the lake. The church was dedicated to St. Martin, like other churches on Lake Zurich (Ufenau, Meilen). The Thalwil church stands on a rocky outcrop, the so-called "Platte", with a magnificent view of the lake. Due to its exposed position, it is visible from afar, even at night when it is lighted on weekends or during Advent. In 1989-92 the church was renovated inside and got back its first organ, which was built in 1865 by the then famous organ builder Friedrich Haas. Thus, the Thalwil church has two fully-fledged church organs, each of which can develop its own timbres and be used accordingly. In 2021, the audio video installation has now been completely re-planned and realized. The main requirement of the new evaluation was to be able to sound the lateral and the rear gallery evenly, to amplify new musical contributions properly but also to be able to change different scenarios concerning the church use at the push of a button including live applications. The sound reinforcement solution was simulated with the help of Fohhn Designer in order to discuss the appropriate speaker positions and types.

Equipment and implementation
In order to best reach the galleries, it was decided to mount a total of four DLI-230 Beam Steering loudspeakers in a special color and length directly on top of each other at the portal of the church organ, which thus also blended in perfectly visually. The upper two DLI-230s sound the galleries with a capacity of 450 people up to a distance of 25m and the lower two the nave of 20m and this without any problems without additional delay speakers. For the near field in the gallery and in the nave, two LC-60 and LC-20 of our passive line array speakers are used, which are driven by Fohhn MA amps. The necessary bass foundation for musical contributions is provided by two passive AS-22 subbasses, which are also driven by MA Series DSP amps.
We would like to thank the parish and the company Fima Tech GmbH for their trust and wish them much pleasure with the new sound solution.
Planning and installation: Fima Tech GmbH, 8755 Ennenda http://www.fima-tech.ch