The community of Wyoming, within the city of Cincinnati, is home to some of the finest examples of turn-of-the-century wood-frame houses, called 'painted ladies', in the US. Now, Wyoming is home to a wonderful sounding Phoenix hybrid, or combination organ.
The limited Cunningham pipe organ was never finished and did not include a Great Division. It was determined that the organ would become a hybrid for specification 1, an all digital duplicate for spec 2 , French for spec 3, and a Harrison and Harrison fourth spec. The crowning glory of the English spec is the Tuba, with speakers sitting high up in the pipe chamber and firing down the Nave.
A single manual gallery positif (pictured at bottom right) was added and this console plays many stops of the Great Division through wireless MIDI. As well, the Great Divison can be switched to Antiphonal speakers.
The organ has 57 stops, 3 manuals with sub and super couplers, and boasts 4 specifications, an audio system of 23 channels and a new Phoenix pipe control system. There are 17 pipe stops from the existing pipe organ. Due to issues with the pipe chests of the Pedal Division, which would have been very expensive to repair, as well as pipes that were not particularly impressive, the Pedal Division is all sampled. The combination organ has a well rounded specification, is now exciting to hear and supports congregational singing. A visiting organist for a Sunday service left a note on the console stating that the new organ was "beyond wonderful".
Drawknobs are from Harris Precision of California, coupler tabs from Peterson Electro (IL), Lab Gruppen (Sweden) power amplifiers, a Phoenix hydraulic adjustable bench and moveable organ platform.
John Fitzwater, a builder by trade, and organ committee chairman, along with other members of the church, undertook the huge job of constructing a grid in the organ chamber to mount the many Phoenix AcoustiCube speakers. The result is a wonderful spread of sound across the front of the sanctuary and you simply cannot pin-point the source of any sound, as would be the case with a good pipe organ. This is another case of church members being involved in the installation process, under Phoenix direction, saving the church a great deal of money.
One of the outstanding features of this installation is the most beautiful English specification with the Tuba mounted high in the chamber and speaking beautifully down the Nave. A thrilling sound!
Click to watch the AH&T organ video or visit: http://youtu.be/Q8brDytnLkY
