Located in the mountains near Howard’s Knob in the North Carolina High Country, Boone United Methodist Church has a variety of ministries that address a wide range of worshippers. To ensure their message is delivered clearly and that musical performances are reproduced naturally, the church recently completed a substantial AV upgrade that encompassed a significant sound reinforcement system.
Using a combination of WorxAudio loudspeakers, Symetrix SymNet Solus 8 and AFMG’s advanced FIRmaker technologies provided the congregation with a system with dramatically improved sound quality in its sanctuary.
Selah Media Productions, a design/build AV integration firm based in Mount Holly, NC that caters to the house of worship and commercial markets, was contracted to design and deploy Boone United Methodist’s new sound system. In addition to the WorxAudio loudspeakers, the core of the new system also employs a PreSonus StudioLive 32.4.2AI digital console at FOH and Symetrix SymNet Solus 8 audio processors for loudspeaker management. Buck Roberts, president of Selah Media Productions, discussed the project and his reasons for selecting the equipment.
“This is a facility audio, video and stage lighting remodel that began way back in in May of 2014,” Roberts explained. “Up to this point, the church had an outdated and insufficient AV system that never really worked well for them. There was poor speech intelligibility in addition to poor coverage patterns throughout the space, all of which resulted in inconsistent sound quality. Combined with a challenging acoustical environment, they were desperate for a new system.”
The sanctuary measures 97 feet wide by 77 feet deep. The space has a dramatic, high ceiling that, at its peak, reaches 61 feet. Tongue-and-groove wood with an exposed beam over the center accentuate the room’s visual appeal. There is also a balcony area that is finished in sheetrock. “The room has a seating capacity of 750 people,” Roberts said, “and while the floor is carpeted, there were excessive reflective surfaces on the side walls and on the ceiling area over the balcony. To address many of these acoustic shortcomings, we treated the space with acoustic panels from ATS Acoustics in order to gain better control over the reflections.”
Line Arrays Make all the Difference
“Boone United Methodist offers both traditional and contemporary services,” Roberts continued, “and because of this, music plays an important roles in worship services. Further, the space is also used for a variety of other programs that range from concerts to community meetings. Because of this, it was essential that the new sound system not only improve both delivery of the spoken word, but also music reproduction. After careful evaluation, we elected to deploy WorxAudio line array technology, as this offered the greatest control over the loudspeaker aiming, throw and other considerations. Specifically, we chose WorxAudio’s TrueLine V5i-P powered line array because of its compact form factor, which minimized line-of-sight considerations and was not intrusive aesthetically.”
The house mains consist of 14 WorxAudio V5T-P enclosures — seven each for the left and right hangs. These enclosures are flown at a height of 24 feet over each side of the stage area using WorxAudio’s TrueAim grid and hardware from Chief Manufacturing. The arrays are supported by large steel beams that are part of the room’s basic architectural design. The WorxAudio V5T-P is a two-way, high efficiency, line array loudspeaker that incorporates a medium format one-inch exit compression driver coupled to a stabilized proprietary FlatWave Former (wave shaping device). Dual five-inch neodymium cone transducers complete the transducer configuration.
For low-frequency enhancement, Roberts and his crew utilized two WorxAudio TrueLine TL118SSi-P high-SPL sub-bass enclosures. These are flown behind the main left/right speaker clusters. The WorxAudio TL118SSi-P employs a direct radiating, 18-inch, 2,000-watt cone driver in a tuned enclosure, which provides maximum output with minimal distortion and smooth, extended low-frequency response.
A combination of loudspeakers and in-ear monitor systems handle on-stage monitoring. WorxAudio WaveSeries 8M 2-way, high efficiency passive floor wedges complete the WorxAudio loudspeaker assortment. These four enclosures each utilize a 1-inch exit compression driver coupled to a 75 x 75 degree wooden waveguide horn complemented by an 8-inch cone transducer in a tuned enclosure. These are powered by QSC PLD4.2 power amplifiers. In-ear monitoring is via Elite Core Audio PMA personal monitor systems.
System Tuning, DSP, Mixing and Mics
System tuning is critical to the successful deployment of any loudspeaker system and in this regard, the Boone United Methodist Church installation is on the cutting edge due to Robert’s use of Berlin, Germany-based AFMG’s FIRmaker technology. AFMG’s FIRmaker algorithm generates custom FIR filters to optimize the loudspeaker system coverage. By incorporating this technology, WorxAudio’s TrueAim system optimization software implements the FIR filters to the DSP while dramatically improving spectral consistency — resulting in smooth, even coverage throughout the venue.
When queried about its impact on overall system performance, Roberts offered the following thought about using FIRmaker technology for system tuning. “In one word, I would describe the results like this: amazing,” he says. “AFMG’s FIRmaker virtually eliminated problem frequencies in multiple areas of the room. It made the entire space very consistent across the frequency spectrum. As for DSP, we used Symetrix SymNet Solus 8 audio processors for the FIRmaker filters.”
At FOH, the mixing technology is every bit as impressive as the loudspeaker system. The church’s FOH position is located at the front rail of the upper balcony — centrally positioned approximately 45 feet out from the downstage edge. Here, Roberts and his team deployed the PreSonus StudioLive 32.4.2AI digital console. With its abundant audio processing capabilities, support for 96 kHz audio, and Active Integration technology, the console provides a wealth of features that enable myriad audio mixing possibilities both now and for the long term.
“PreSonus consoles are our go-to solution for churches, due to their ease of operation and affordability,” Roberts explains. “The ability to easily operate from presets for each service makes it an excellent choice for the volunteer staff. This mixer has plenty of great features, so it can handle very involved productions and offers the church staff room to grow. We also placed one of our custom-built PC’s at FOH to utilize the PreSonus VSL-AI software and to install the FIRmaker software via the Symetrix SymNet platform. The entire system is networked. And the SymNet software made it easy to drop the FIR filters in and get everything going.”
For microphones, Roberts outfitted the church with Line 6 XD-V75 wireless mics, which operate in the relatively carefree 2.4 GHz spectrum. Additionally, they repurposed a few other high-quality mics the church already owned to complete the mic locker.
It’s all in the Details
The Boone United Methodist Church SR system upgrade was completed in six months. Reflecting on the choice of WorxAudio loudspeakers, Roberts had several positive thoughts. “The AVL installation at Boone United Methodist is one of the best results we’ve ever achieved,” Roberts reports. The WorxAudio V5T-P’s broad 120-degree horizontal dispersion made a noticeable difference in terms of providing even coverage throughout the room.
“Further, with first-rate speech intelligibility and music reproduction characteristics, they simply sound terrific,” Roberts adds. “Equally important, the TL118SSi-P subwoofers gave us all the low-end we could possibly want. They are spectacular subs. We measured a fundamental frequency from a recording at 25 Hz!”
Jason Byassee, pastor at Boone United Methodist Church, was very impressed with the performance of the new SR system and the entire AV setup. “We’ve been thrilled with Selah’s work. This has improved the worship in all three of our sanctuary services. Our older folks can hear more clearly and our video works beautifully and enhances our services. The entire church has thrived as a result. We couldn’t be more grateful.”
Roberts summarized it all. “When you take the capabilities of the WorxAudio equipment, add in FIRmaker technology for system tuning, and support it all with a top notch PreSonus mixer and Symetrix DSP, the result is truly impressive. Equally important, WorxAudio’s customer support is the best. Having WorxAudio’s Hugh Sarvis add the personal touch by coming to the church to install the FIRmaker software was the icing on the cake. We’re thrilled with the results.”
A Look at AFMG’s FIRmaker
Developed by AFMG, FIRmaker is an important tool used in the system tuning of sound reinforcement systems by combining the ease of using the company’s EASE acoustic modeling software with the power of FIR (Finite Impulse Response) processing. The technology goes beyond the capabilities of conventional digital beam steering and enables acousticians, system engineers and AV integrators to shape the radiated soundfield in an extremely flexible and efficient manner.
The process requires only the venue’s geometry as the input data, after which FIRmaker computes the optimal FIR filters that are precisely tailored to the demands of the venue or show setup. The user has full control over the achieved result. System optimization can be achieved toward any combination of even sound coverage, spectral uniformity, maximum SPL, excluded areas, plus target level and response. FIRmaker takes full advantage of the processing power supplied by the DSP in use.
Inside the Boone United Methodist Church
Location: Boone, NC
Capacity: 750
Key Components: WorxAudio V5T-P arrays, TL118SSi-P subs, PreSonus StudioLive 32.4.2AI console, Symetrix SymNet, AFMG FIRmaker
Designer: Buck Roberts
Integrator: Selah Media Productions
