"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing." (Psalm 100:1-2)

Serving the Streetsville and Meadowvale communities since 1836.

Phoenix Organ Installation Diary at Streetsville United

At a special congregational meeting held December 15, 2002 the congregation of Streetsville United Church approved the purchase and installation of a Phoenix PD-351 Digital Organ to replace its current Keates Pipe Organ with some components dating back to 1920. This diary will attempt to log the progress of the organ's construction and installation during the spring of 2003.

Friday, April 11, 2003

Speaker Installation

Thursday night simply resulted in laying the floorboard for the new organ loft as well as bring the speaker wiring up into the organ loft.

Today (Friday) started off with a presentation to 31 members of the Men's Club with some anecdotal stories about church organs. Three key points he made:

Church music is in decline; many churches are losing their membership because they cannot balance youth's need for "band" music with an older generation's need for traditional religious music.

The Phoenix Organ design, with its digital pipes and instruments, can contribute to bringing a church music ministry into balance without sacrificing quality of sound.

Following breakfast many members assisted with unloading Jim's van containing our speakers. We then progressed to installing the speakers -- the antiphonal speakers at the rear balcony; a set of four speakers for the Swell Division in the south pipe chamber; a set of four speakers for the Great Division behind the pipes above the choir loft and a set of three speakers for the Choir and Pedal Divisions in the north pipe chamber. The latter will be supplemented with a sub-woofer for the Pedal Division also located in the same chamber. Jim was ably assisted by Les Cunningham, Gary Clipperton and Bruce Emerson, moving shelves, installing mounting plates onto walls, removing pipes and connecting the wiring.

To install the speakers into the Great Division at the rear of the choir loft, we had to remove not only the rear sets of traditional pipes but also the front row. Howver, this left too little distance (by about an inch) for some of the speakers and their depth. Jim will bring suitable replacement speakers of at least the same cu. ft. volume on Tuesday. The picture on the left shows the location for the two small speakers that are still capable of delivering 100 watts each for the Great Division.

Work continued for cleaning up the sanctuary for Harry Mitchell's memorial service tomorrow and our Palm Sunday services. Work to complete the organ loft, especially the finishing wood work and trim, will resume on Sunday afternoon. The console, along with the sub-woofer, will arrive Tuesday morning. It is expected that sufficient installation to permit use for our Easter services will be completed Tuesday evening.