Installing a Hauptwerk organ in a church successfully can be a lot more of a challenge than putting one in a home.
There's a lot to think about. First is the type and positioning of the sound system. We have a background in PA systems and audio engineering, so are well equipped to deal with this.
Then we must match an appropriate sample set to the building and the console.
We try to make the organ system as much like a pipe organ as we can. As such, we tend to favour physical console controls over touchscreens.
We still make use of second hand equipment where appropriate, which can help with the cost.
Once installed, our leading industry experts delicately voice the instrument to the building note by note.

See below for some examples of our church installations.

Church Organs

This organ is at the Mynyddbach chapel in Swansea. We installed it inside the case of the ailing pipe organ. We find that putting speakers inside an organ case gives the most convincing pipe like sound. We split the speakers into organ divisions and placed them as near as possible to those divisions inside the case. There is a shelf over the top of the great organ. The swell box acted as its own shelf. There were no pipes on the choir soundboard, so we put those speakers directly on it. The pedal speakers and subwoofer are underneath the great soundboard. There are 20 channels with 24 speakers and a large subwoofer. The sample set is custom, and the sound very pleasing.

This organ is in Great Yarmouth Minster. It is to provide temporary provision while their pipe organ is rebuilt. Temporary it might be, but we still apply the same level of attention to detail to the installation.
This is a monster of an instrument. As the pipe organ is to be dismantled, we couldn't put the speakers in the case. So we built shelves to house them on top of the cafe in the opposite transept.
There are 48 channels with 46 speaker cabinets and 4 large subwoofers. This is the largest parish church in the country with a larger floor area than many cathedrals, and the organ fills it with ease.
Being a temporary install, the console resulted from a case and parts that we had in stock, hence its unusual look. However for a 60 stop console, it is remarkably compact and the illuminated stop buttons are easy and satisfying to use.

This organ is at Christ Church, Quarry Bank in the West Midlands. The church's pipe organ was in a dire state, but they had very little budget for a repair or replacement. We were able to source a suitable console and install it with a 10 channel sound system for a price they could afford. Again, we placed the speakers inside the existing pipe organ, which in this church was located up in a transept gallery. There were no plans to reinstate the pipe organ, so we removed the pipes from the great organ and placed the speakers on its soundboard with a subwoofer underneath. It speaks well into the building, but with the dissipation of sound that an organ case provides. There are only 22 stops, but it fills the church admirably.

Please get in touch for any Hauptwerk related enquiries. You can email us on info@nottinghammidiorgans.co.uk or phone us on 07790 001256.

Back to top