GAINESVILLE, GA — Keith Armstrong, db Audio and Video's System Advisor, carefully planned the physical renovation for Meadowbrook Baptist Church using Danley Sound Labs SH-50 full range loudspeakers, Danley SH-100s and Danley TH-115 subwoofers, along with absorption and diffusion methods. To accommodate the growing congregation, the church had decided to move from its old, 550-seat sanctuary to the only other large room at the facility — the gymnasium. The gymnasium was a large 120’ x 80’ x 22’ box covered with reflective surfaces, and Armstrong measured its reverb time at 7.5 seconds. However, the church wanted a generous stage along one of the long walls, and wanted to accommodate 900 church members. Since the church was operating on a tight budget, and since Armstrong was told that some of their members owned metal fabrication companies and would be willing to donate their time and expertise, he started by drafting plans for diffusion panels to cover both of the shorter walls. The church took the plans and, using church labor and a modest outlay for materials, built the diffusion panels themselves. “The diffusion panels would help kill the rather extreme flutter echo," Armstrong explained, "but there was still a massive slap-back echo from the back wall to the stage." To combat the problem, dB Audio and Video designed a regiment of two-inch absorption panels and installed them along the back wall.
Using Danley loudspeakers, Armstrong flew two 50' x 50' Danley SH-50 Synergy Horn full-range loudspeakers directly above the pulpit. He supplemented them with two 110' x 110' Danley SH-100 Synergy Horn full-range loudspeakers, 35 feet in either direction from the center cluster and angled in at 45 degrees, to ensure that nothing hit the sidewalls. Two more flown SH-100s served as low-energy choir monitors. The church independently built risers for the choir and placed a curtain from floor-to-ceiling behind the stage area. The ceiling was left in its presanctuary, tecktum-paneled state, and, except for 900 acoustical absorbers in the form of church members, left the floor untreated. When funds allow, the church plans to build an even larger sanctuary, at which point the gymnasium will return to its roots.
Armstrong hard packed two Danley TH-115 Trapped Horn (Patent Pending) subwoofers above the main cluster. He commented, "The Danley subwoofers use a proprietary design that generates an amazing amount of clean, thunderous bass from a relatively small cabinet. The absorption treatment had tightened the room up nicely, and the TH-115s provided the system with an equally tight low end." He also specified new QSC RMX-Series amplifiers to drive all of the house loudspeakers. RMX 4050s powered the SH-50s, RMX 2450s powered the side fills and RMX 5050s powered the TH-115 subwoofers. He used the church's existing Crown Macrotechs for the choir monitors and for their existing stage wedges. An existing Crown USM810 provided processing, although Armstrong commented that the Danleys required almost no equalizing, and an existing 40-channel Soundcraft Series 2 console fed the whole system.
"It's amazing that we were able to take a gymnasium and turn it into a bona fide sanctuary," Armstrong reflected. "The Danleys are a dramatic improvement over their old sanctuary loudspeakers, and the difference is obvious even to church members who have no special interest in audio.”
For further information, please see www.danleysoundlabs.com.
