Padded furniture for reverent atmosphere

Claim 1

A combination for maintaining a reverent atmosphere in a sanctuary including: a. a plurality of pews located in said sanctuary; said pews facing a lectern and arranged in front to back relationship; each pew having a seat, a back rest, and leg supports carrying said seat and back rest; b. a lectern for a minister and the like; c. a microphone at said lectern; d. at least one amplifier connected to said microphone; and the improvement comprising: e. resilient padding on both front and back of said back rest; said padding extending over the major portion of said front for comfort and being disposed on at least the top and bottom of the back of said back rest for compensation for changes in dimension of a cover with changes in temperature and humidity and for absorbing energy and lessening wear from people rubbing their shoes and the like on a cover disposed over the padding; f. a fabric cover that is suceptible to changes in dimension with changes in temperature and humidity and to wear from contact with shoes and the like; said fabric cover having a longitudinal stretch induced thereinto and fastened in place over said resilient padding; g. a plurality of speakers located in front of and facing people seated in said pews and being disposed at least one for each pew such that no individual is more than 4 feet from a speaker to thereby provide a continuum of sound with no detectable blurring because of overlap; said speakers being connected respectively with the back of a pew in front so as to provide a solid backing for reinforcement of bass tones and covered with fabric so as to be invisible such that the hearer cannot even detect from whence the sound comes; and h. each said speaker on each said pew being electrically connected to said at least one amplifier for a substantially uniform level continuum of sound for good hearing throughout said sanctuary without uncomfortable and irreverent loudness in one portion near a main speaker and without too low a sound for good hearing remote from said main speaker and without blurring from delayed sound from one main speaker mixing with sound from another main speaker at a different distance; said fabric cover and said padding absorbing acoustic energy also to reduce the overall noise level and increase the feeling of reverence and the ease of hearing in said sanctuary.