Harman brings clarity to Quba Mosque

Saudi Arabia:

Quba Mosque’s latest audio upgrade features a Harman Professional audio system to balance two competing demands: supporting worshippers across an expanded site while keeping sound reinforcement unobtrusive.

Situated in Medina, and considered as one of Islam’s most significant places of worship, the mosque has deployed a system incorporating JBL loudspeakers, Crown amplification and BSS signal processing. Installed in partnership with HAV, the system is designed to provide consistent, intelligible coverage for daily prayers and large gatherings while preserving the mosque’s architectural character and atmosphere.

The project follows the latest expansion of Quba Mosque under the King Salman Project, part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme. The development has increased capacity to up to 66,000 worshippers across 50,000m², placing greater demands on the site’s sound reinforcement.

A notable element of the installation is the use of JBL SRX906 line array loudspeakers in the mosque’s four minarets. According to Harman, Quba Mosque is the only mosque in Saudi Arabia to deploy line arrays in its minarets. The systems provide focused, long-throw coverage for the call to prayer while controlling dispersion and limiting excessive reflections.

Inside the mosque and surrounding areas, JBL CBT 70J Series column loudspeakers provide vertical coverage, while JBL Control and AWC Series models extend the system into auxiliary and outdoor spaces.

BSS EC-8BV wall controllers and BLU-series DSP processors handle signal routing, equalisation, delay alignment and zoning. The processing has been configured to account for the mosque’s acoustics, with the aim of improving speech intelligibility and maintaining consistency between different areas. Crown XTi and CDi DriveCore amplifiers power the system, providing the required headroom for continuous operation during busy prayer periods.

The installation forms part of the mosque’s broader modernisation as it accommodates increasing numbers of worshippers and pilgrims, while retaining the character of a site with a history stretching back to the earliest days of Islam.