quba mosque expands to host 66,000 visitors
The Quba Mosque (Masjid Quba), located in Medina, Saudi Arabia, is historically significant as the first mosque built by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) upon his arrival in Medina. It holds great religious importance for Muslims, and performing prayers carries special rewards according to Islamic tradition.
The mosque has undergone several expansions over the centuries to accommodate growing numbers of worshippers and pilgrims. The most recent and largest one is the King Salman Project for the Expansion of Quba Mosque, announced in April 2022 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of Saudi Vision 2030 efforts to enhance holy sites and pilgrim experiences.
The Quba Mosque has undergone an expansion of 10 folds, now covering an area of 50,000 square meters), and accommodating 66,000 worshipers
Opportunity
Keeping with the serenity and the historical importance of the mosque, the challenge was to re-design the audio system, and provide a pure and immersive and highly intelligible sound that enhances the spiritual experience.
Solution
The new Quba mosque features four soaring minarets and 56 mini-domes. HAV worked closely with the integrator and the foundation, to an integrated HARMAN Solution. HAV designed the Audio Solution.
A key highlight is the strategic deployment of the JBL SRX906LA line array loudspeakers mounted in the four minarets. These compact, powered dual 6.5-inch line array elements provide focused, long throw projection with excellent directivity control, ensuring the call to prayer (adhan) carries powerfully and clearly over significant distances without losing intelligibility or becoming muddled by echoes and reflections common in open or reverberant mosque environments.
The SRX906LA’s advanced acoustic design, high SPL capability, and built-in DSP deliver punchy highs, articulate midrange, and controlled dispersion, making the adhan sound majestic, far-reaching, and emotionally stirring while maintaining professional-grade fidelit
Complementing this are the JBL CBT 70 series column loudspeakers installed throughout the main prayer areas and the outdoor serenity. The CBT series, renowned for its Constant Beamwidth Technology™, offers consistent vertical coverage and asymmetrical dispersion that directs sound more effectively toward the rear of the congregation, resulting in remarkably uniform volume and clarity from front to back—no dead zones or overly loud spots near the speakers. Also, the CBT 70 models add flexible, high-intelligibility reinforcement ideal for speech. Together, they create a seamless, enveloping sound field that feels natural and non-fatiguing even during extended recitations.
The system’s backbone relies on BSS Audio controllers: BLU-series DSP processors for sophisticated signal routing, equalization, delay alignment, and zoning. This enables precise tuning to the mosque’s unique acoustics—compensating for reverberation, optimizing phase coherence, and ensuring smooth transitions across zones—resulting in outstanding speech intelligibility (critical for understanding the Qur’an and khutbah) and overall coherence.
Powering the entire setup are Crown amplifiers, delivering reliable, high-headroom amplification with excellent damping factor and thermal stability. They drive the speakers to their full potential without strain, providing clean headroom, tight transient response, and rock-solid performance under continuous use during peak prayer times.
The control room has a combination of 8+ Crown Drive core amplifiers and 5+ Crown XT., supported by BSS signal processors, The audio quality at Masjid Quba in Madinah stands out as exceptional, delivering crystal-clear, immersive, and highly intelligible sound that enhances the spiritual experience for worshippers during the adhan, Qur’an recitation, sermons (khutbah), and prayers. The system achieves remarkable clarity, even coverage across the prayer hall and outdoor areas, minimal distortion at high volumes, and a natural, balanced tonal response that makes every word from the imam resonate with precision and warmth—truly elevating the atmosphere of this historic first mosque in Islam.
The Result
Overall, this integrated HARMAN ecosystem— featuring the SRX906LA for elevated projection, CBT columns for broad indoor coverage, BSS for intelligent processing, and Crown for amplification—produces audio of remarkable quality: pure, distortion-free, evenly distributed, and spiritually uplifting. Worshippers benefit from an experience where the spoken and recited word feels immediate, enveloping, and profoundly clear, making Masjid Quba a benchmark for modern mosque sound reinforcement.
Planning a mosque audio system upgrade or expansion? HAV Pro can provide audio simulations, sound system design, DSP configuration planning, and professional equipment selection for your project requirements. Contact Us to learn how we can support your next installation.
