St. Michaelis, Hamburg, Germany
Precision Sound for One of Germany’s Most Iconic Baroque Churches
St. Michael’s Church is one of Hamburg’s most famous landmarks and a masterpiece of Northern German Baroque architecture. With its vast interior, long reverberation times, and historic significance, the “Michel” presents extraordinary challenges for any sound reinforcement system – particularly with respect to speech intelligibility and acoustic control.
For the latest upgrade to the church’s sound system, the VIDA M series by Kling & Freitag was selected. This beam-steerable, scalable system allows for precise acoustic coverage and minimizes disruptive reflections – an essential advantage in such a complex and reverberant space.
Thanks to the flexibility and precision of VIDA M, excellent speech intelligibility has been achieved throughout the entire nave – from the pulpit to the most distant pews. At the same time, the system delivers impressive musicality, clarity, and dynamic range, enriching both spoken word and musical performances.
The project was realized in close cooperation with our long-standing partner PROTONES, who managed the technical integration with great expertise and attention to the architectural heritage of the space. The result is a seamless blend of cutting-edge audio performance with minimal visual impact – respecting both the function and form of this protected historical landmark.
“The Michel is an acoustic challenge in every sense. With VIDA M, we were able to address the unique sound environment with precision and deliver a solution that meets the highest standards for both speech and music.”
Arne Sumfleth, Project Manager, PROTONES“The fine-tuning process in the Michel demanded absolute precision and experience. VIDA M provided the flexibility we needed to tailor the system to the room’s complex acoustics—resulting in outstanding speech clarity and a refined sonic image.”
Christoph Wöhler, System Engineer, Kling & Freitag
