The Sanctuary of Lourdes is a beacon of faith, covering an impressive area of 53 hectares with 22 places of worship. A testament to time, history and devotion, the basilicas of Lourdes have witnessed over a century of prayer, adoration and contemplation, drawing six million pilgrims from around the world every year.
As part of a contemporary transformation, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary at the Sanctuary of Lourdes recently embarked on a sonic journey to renovate its indoor and outdoor sound system using APG loudspeakers from Arbane Groupe.

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary is the most important place of pilgrimage in France. Built between 1883 and 1889 and consecrated in 1901, the Byzantine-style basilica features impressive mosaics covering over 2,000 m² and can accommodate 1,500 worshippers.

After three decades of faithful service, the APG outdoor audio system, installed by local integrator Audiomaster Technologie, began to show signs of wear and tear after enduring extreme temperatures (-10°C winters and +40°C summers), humidity and daily operation. It was time to offer a modern audio experience to the congregation. «Thirty years ago, our engineers spent nearly a year on site designing and manufacturing the product
just as the client wanted, and I think that's the reason why the APG speakers withstood the harsh weather conditions,» says Rodolphe Portet, technical sales engineer at Arbane Groupe. «It's truly a great testament to the quality of the product and the custom engineering efforts that go with it.

Audiomaster Technologie, a subsidiary of ACE EVENT GROUP, rose to the challenge with the objective of renovating the basilica's exterior and interior with a sound system capable of ensuring perfect intelligibility of spiritual teachings, sermons and traditional Catholic music while respecting
the architecture, mosaics and decoration of the basilica.

Following numerous rounds of testing and comparisons, Audiomaster Technologie once again turned to APG loudspeakers, drawn by the warmth of the sound and the wide coverage, as well as the manufacturer's proximity. «This close relationship between us and
Arbane Groupe is very important to us. It allows us to develop better projects by building on the ideas put forward during our first collaboration,» says Loïc Bourgain, Technical Design Manager at ACE EVENT GROUP.

Eric Grandmougin, marketing director of Arbane Groupe, believes that another reason Audiomaster Technologie chose to work with Arbane Groupe again is the possibility of creating custom speakers: «We were able to customise the colour of the speakers so that they blended in perfectly with the environment and were hidden from the pilgrims. «We also organised demonstrations for Audiomaster Technologie prior to installation and created a 3D model showing how we would cover the sound in the basilica, which gave them a much better idea of the result
»final," added Mr Portet.

Audiomaster Technologie installed 70 APG iX8-O compact outdoor loudspeakers, featuring a two-way coaxial design, bass reflex and an IP54 protection rating. Thirty-six loudspeakers were installed on the lighting poles along the 421-metre main avenue. Sixteen loudspeakers were placed on the Rosary esplanade and a further 16 units were positioned along of the river and the sacred cave. All loudspeakers are powered by six Powersoft Quattrocanali 2404 DSP amplifiers coupled with a Xilica Solaro processor. The end-user wanted to offer people walking in the street
mainly a more immersive and smoother sound experience, hence the decision to have zero delay and to install the speakers face to face to deliver the same sound everywhere at the same time.