With a contemporary program featuring a strong music emphasis, Northcrest Baptist Church (Meridian, MS) has a wide range of offerings including children’s, youth and adult choirs, plus a variety of mission opportunities and worship programs. Recognizing the importance of a quality sound reinforcement and its ability to deliver a high level of speech intelligibility and music reproduction characteristics, the church recently upgraded with a new loudspeaker system from WorxAudio Technologies.
A First
Of particular note, this installation represents the first deployment of a sound system optimized using AFMG’s FIRmaker beam steering technology incorporated into the latest version of the company’s EASE Focus 2 loudspeaker optimization/modeling program. AFMG FIRmaker technology influences both frequency response and phase of each independently driven sound source in such a way that all interferences combine in a desired, user-controlled manner — forming a perfectly homogeneous soundfield throughout the covered area. Used with WorxAudio’s digitally steered line array in acoustically challenging spaces, the result is substantially increased signal to noise ratio and greatly improved speech intelligibility, and even SPL coverage throughout the sanctuary.
Contracted to design and deploy the church’s new sound system was Cape Coral, FL-based Creative Sound Solutions, LLC, a licensed AV design/build firm that handles audio, video, lighting, and acoustics for the commercial and church markets. The heart of the setup consists of 16 WorxAudio X1i-P powered installation line arrays for house mains as well as an additional two X1i-P enclosures serving as choir monitors. Rounding out the system are two TL118SSi-P powered subs, two V5M-P ultra-compact powered fill/monitors, plus four Wave Series 8M two-way, high efficiency, stage monitors.
“Music plays a vital role in the church’s worship services,” says Creative Sound Solutions president Tony Flammia. “There are multiple services each Sunday and the music is very heavily choir-driven with supporting music tracks. And for special musical selections, they also have a pianist and organist who accompany a group of frontline vocalists who are outfitted with wireless mics. The main sanctuary stage is 60 feet wide and the room itself features floor and balcony levels, plus seats that ascend on the left and right from the floor level to the balcony.”
As one views the stage/altar area, it immediately becomes clear how important music is. The main choir is quite large — with upwards of 100 voices. The choir stretches from one side of the stage to the other. Directly overhead, the Creative Sound Solutions team deployed two X1i-P line array clusters. Flown at a height of approximately 30 feet, the left and right hangs each consist of eight X1i-P enclosures that are slightly splayed out toward the sides of the room at roughly 6°. The two additional X1i-P loudspeakers that serve as choir monitors are mounted at the rear of the left/right line array clusters. Attached to WorxAudio’s TrueRig rigging system, these enclosures are all but invisible from the congregation.
“During the design phase of this project,” Flammia explained, “the choir repeatedly stressed that they had never been able to hear the music tracks because they only had floor wedges, and these could never project past the first row of the choir. With the downfill coverage provided by the rear-mounted X1i-P speakers, there is a tremendous difference, as they are aimed directly at the center of the choir.”
Low-frequency support is via two WorxAudio TL118SSi-P powered subs. These high-SPL sub-bass enclosures reside in the choir loft area directly above and behind the choir and are recessed into the décor of the space so as not to be visible. Completing the house coverage, are two WorxAudio V5M-P fill/monitor speakers. These enclosures are wall mounted at stage left and right and are aimed at the farthest sides of the sanctuary.
“In addition to the loudspeakers providing coverage throughout the room,” Flammia adds, “we also provided four WorxAudio Wave Series 8M floor monitors. These enclosures are designed to be positioned as needed — giving them an extra margin of coverage no matter how the stage is set up.”
Coverage Makes the Difference
Discussing his reasons for selecting the WorxAudio components, Flammia added, “The X1i-P has a very broad horizontal dispersion pattern that proved ideal for providing consistent coverage throughout the sanctuary. This space is over 100 feet wide. Without the 160° horizontal pattern of the X1i-P, we would have needed to hang a third line array cluster, which would only increase the cost to our customer. I also love how symmetrical the X1i-Ps are. You don’t hear any shading when walking from left to right. The coverage is seamless throughout the room.
“I’m also a big fan of WorxAudio’s TL118SSi-P subwoofer,” Flammia continued. “These subs can hit lows most people have never heard. The fact we only required two of these enclosures is testimony to just how much power they deliver.”
As the first installation optimized using AFMG’s FIRmaker technology that is now included in EASE Focus 2 utilizing WorxAudio’s GLL (Generic Loudspeaker Library), Flammia offered the following thoughts on the value of this added capability. “It’s never a good idea to install your speakers up high, too close to the ceiling,” he says. “As we had line of sight considerations, we knew we’d have contend with this. The FIR filtering let us keep a lot of the low-mids from bouncing off the ceiling, as this would have created an undesirable low-mid reflection. We were also able to tighten up the sound to the point where it became possible to hear the reverb in the test tracks we were playing. Typically in a live sounding room of this size, you would not be able to hear the reverb in the track, but instead you’d just hear the room reverb, so the FIRmaker technology added a considerable amount of clarity to the overall system performance.”
In the rear of the room, the mix position has an Allen & Heath iLive T112 digital console with an iDR48 MixRack and an xDR16 16-input/8-output expander, for a total of 64 channels. For broadcast purposes, there’s also a matching Dante I/O-equipped console that handles the church’s recording and broadcast feeds. The house mic arsenal includes Shure SLX wireless handheld transmitters outfitted with Beta 87A capsules. Additionally, there are Countryman E6 earset microphones that are mated with Shure SLX14 wireless systems.
According to Flammia, “Most services utilize 20 to 30 audio channels, but for larger events such as plays, this channel count can easily reach upwards of 48 inputs. By having the system in place that we do, there is a good amount of ‘headroom’ to ensure that no matter how large the production may be, there is adequate input capacity.”
With Northcrest Baptist Church’s new sound system operational since mid-September, Flammia reports receiving numerous compliments. “Everyone is extremely pleased. Their original sound system consisted of two single 15-inch drivers and two horns, which was terribly inadequate for this space. Many of the church members said they never were able to hear the sound prior to the installation of the WorxAudio system. Now, there is clear consistent sound no matter where you are in the hall and the people on stage can all hear clearly. It’s been a radical change and one the church is very pleased about.”
