The pace of technology upgrades in the house of worship market seems unstoppable. And why not, as congregations — both traditional and contemporary — take advantage of modern audio, lighting, video and broadcast systems to help spread the message. With the rise of high-energy praise bands and choirs, these days, a ‘60s Lowrey organ and a couple of well-worn Shure Vocal Master columns don’t cut it when presenting contemporary music services.
Not every sanctuary needs a system that could power a rock ‘n’ roll festival, yet one universal request is a need for sound reinforcement that emphasizes vocal intelligibility and clarity first and wall-thumping impact second. At the same time, no two worship spaces are the same. Whether in a converted warehouse, arena or in the confines of a traditional cathedral-esque setting, acoustics can present a formidable challenge. Fortunately, today’s technologies provide tools to improve that situation.
With that in mind, we present some recent installation projects. Each took a different approach to making sure the word, the music and the message come through clearly and cleanly for the entire congregation — whether seated near the altar or in last row.
Raleigh First Assembly Church, Raleigh, NC
These days, new churches are often found in difficult acoustic spaces, such as former retail locations or in commercial parks. An example of this, Raleigh First Assembly Church acquired a 58,000-square-foot space in the middle of its mission zone, but the abandoned industrial property presented challenges as massive as the space.
“In some ways, it was closer to a new-construction project than a typical renovation, but the nature of the construction limited what could be done,” explains Doug Hood of integrator Custom Sound Designs Group (CSD), of Ft. Wayne, IN. Originally a manufacturing facility, “it was a large and almost completely open environment. Things like support beams were central to the structure and had to be worked around in terms of the design.”
CSD selected L-Acoustics’ Kiva and ARCS WiFo speakers for the project, deploying a dozen Kiva modules in left and right arrays of six, then extending the coverage with an ARCS Wide and ARCS Focus paired on each side for outer fill.
The room is wider than it is deep — an overall design challenge in itself —requiring a center fill. CSD took the cost-effective approach of flying a single 115XT HiQ enclosure — typically billed as a stage monitor — in the center position, while seven 5XT compact coaxials spaced across the stage lip offer front fill.
Four L-Acoustics 12XTi modules cover the rear of the worship space. Low-end is via four SB15m subs flown in pairs adjacent to the Kiva arrays and four SB18i subs recessed in the face of the stage. Seven LA4 amplified controllers power the system.
A Yamaha CL5 digital mixing console fed by RIO digital stage boxes drives the system. “The CL5 is accepted as a standard of quality, so we felt comfortable with it,” Hood shares. In-ear monitoring uses Sennheiser transmitter-receiver packages and Aviom personal mixers. With mostly in-ears and only two small wedges, stage volume is greatly reduced. “We wanted to run a digital snake from the stage to the mix position, and using the RIO boxes, we accomplished that goal, and using Dante, we created a seamless signal flow to the Aviom personal mixers on stage.”
Hood also notes that 118 custom Golterman and Sabo acoustic panels were installed. “It was a very unfriendly space to start with, but we treated most everything except the ceiling and it’s very well behaved now.”
That ceiling was part of the reason for selecting the Kiva and ARCS WiFo. “Raleigh First Assembly regularly brings in national touring acts, so, we knew we needed something rider-friendly and L-Acoustics is a widely accepted brand,” says Hood. “Also, although the building itself is large, the ceiling is not super tall, so we needed something to fill this enormous room with power and clarity and still keep a relatively small footprint. The Kiva and ARCS WiFo combo did that really well. The end result is a great room that the church is just crazy-happy with.”
The First Assembly Church
- Capacity: 1,600
- Key Components: L-Acoustics Kiva and ARCS WiFo; Yamaha CL5
- Integrator: Custom Sound Designs Group
- Designer: Doug Hood
Valley Bible Fellowship, Las Vegas
Valley Bible Fellowship recently turned to Las Vegas-based H.A.S. Productions to install a new VUE Audiotechnik al-Class system to perform an audio miracle in a room that’s not audio friendly. The building was previously the largest shoe store in the Las Vegas Valley. While some acoustic treatment had been done on the sidewalls, it is more like audio first-aid than starting with a space optimized for amplified sound.
Designed by VUE’s Mike Adams, the system is a novel approach that combines a pair of al-4SB Ultra Compact Flyable Subwoofer boxes hung in an end-fire configuration above each of the eight-box hangs of VUE al-4 Subcompact Line Array Systems. These are supported by three powered, high performance hs-28 subs installed below the stage.
“The al-4 boxes are a lot bigger sounding than their size would imply,” said Jay Easley of H.A.S. This system is about one-third the size of the one it replaced and provides all the impact they need, along with much more clarity.”
According to worship director JP Dutton, “the old system was made to sound best at about 110 dB. So we were dealing with constant complaints about the volume. With the VUE system, we get a sound that is really full and present but at a lot lower volume.”
Valley Bible Fellowship hosts regular concert performances by some of the biggest names in the Contemporary Christian music space, including Audio Adrenaline, Phil Wickham and Trip Lee. “We have had performers come to us after their show raving about how great the room sounds and how much better it is now with the VUE system installed,” Dutton adds.
While music is a crucial part of services at Valley Bible Fellowship, like most houses of worship, the most pressing audio need is for complete clarity and comprehension of the message. “This system is so clear and present, it has changed everything for the worship team,” says Dutton, adding “there has not been a single service where I haven’t been stopped by members of the congregation and told how great it sounds and how clearly they could hear each individual instrument. We are very happy with everything about the new VUE system and the service from H.A.S. Productions.”
Valley Bible Fellowship
- Capacity: 600
- Key Components: VUE Audiotechnik al-Class system
- Integrator: H.A.S. Productions
- Designer: Mike Adams
Edenton Street United Methodist Church, Raleigh, NC
The Edenton Street Church has a small 150-year-old chapel at one end of church site that extends a full city block that also includes a youth center and the larger satellite Church on Morgan facility. With no existing audio system in the chapel’s octagonal-shaped 60-seat space, the church’s technical supervisor David Clemmer worked with Cooper Cannady of RMB Audio (of Selma, NC) on a solution.
The chapel design specified Martin Audio’s compact C4.8T Ceiling Series speakers. Five pairs of C4.8T’s were installed in three separate zones, all within 80 feet of each other to cover the chapel and two adjoining meeting rooms. Two pairs installed in the narrow valances of the chapel ceiling provide a direct downward sound path to the congregants without reflections from adjacent surfaces.
Located in an adjacent two-story office building, the Youth Center was completely gutted, renovated and updated two years ago for young attendees and now offers recreation rooms with a basketball court and a performance stage/worship area.
“It’s a very clean, modern-looking 60 by 60 foot auditorium with a small 20 foot wide concert stage. We worked with the architect to design a fun, youth-type atmosphere,” says Clemmer. A Martin Audio center cluster with four MLA Mini’s and an MLX sub is flown from the open ceiling rafters. The sub is time-aligned with the Mini cabinets via SMAART to provide consistent front to back coverage and eliminate rear wall slapback.
“They use the space for youth concerts with 80 to 100 teenagers every Sunday night,” Clemmer adds. “The church has many talented young musicians and they occasionally bring in a national Christian act to appear as well. The MLA’s control allows the ministers with Countryman or DPA headsets to stand right in front of the cluster without feedback after only minimal EQ-ing of the room.”
Two blocks away, the Church on Morgan is in a recently renovated and upgraded building. The new main sanctuary now features two Martin Audio CDD12 installation speakers in white cabinets. “It was important to have a speaker capable of starting coverage at a steep downward angle for the first seat with a close up wide horizontal pattern and a reduced horizontal pattern towards the far end of the audience area,” Clemmer explains. The church is also adding a flown CSX212 sub in the middle of the splay.
“The CDD12’s are impressive. They provide warm, balanced full frequency sound with absolute fidelity for speech and a five-piece band in what can be a challenging environment with reflective brick walls and a concrete floor,” he adds.
As a coaxial system, the CDD12’s voicing is good for the room,” concludes RMB’s Cannady. “It’s more coherent without the overtones we normally deal with. The CDD’s provide great coverage, easily covering the space with consistent sound. Articulation is ideal and there are no feedback issues, even people with mics standing under the speakers. It worked out great.”
The Edenton Street United Methodist Church
- Capacity: 1,200 total (Church on Morgan, youth center, chapel)
- Key Components: Martin Audio MLA and CDD
- Integrator: RMB Audio
- Designer: Cooper Cannady, Dave Clemmer
Chapels at Fort Knox, Ft. Knox, KY
Perhaps best known for the U.S. gold bullion depository it maintains, the huge Ft. Knox base also houses the U.S. Army Human Resources Command Center, the Army Cadet Command and Army Accessions Command. Some 12,000 people who live and work on the base are served by the four chapels that recently upgraded with Bose RoomMatch and Panaray speaker systems.
Built in 1899, Main Post Chapel seats about 150. The 300-capacity Calvary Chapel does double duty as a training and orientation facility. The most basic venue, O’Neil Chapel seats 200, with simple instrumentation for praise music. The 500-seat Prichard Place Chapel has an acoustically difficult A-frame roof design.
“It was clear that the challenges these venues presented would be best served by Bose technology,” said design engineer Keith Stengl of SKC, the lead contractor on the project. SKC worked with Louisville-based Bose dealer Axxis, who managed the installation.
Prichard Place Chapel’s 43-foot-tall interior could have acted as a troublesome bass node with the wrong system; instead, it was tamed with a Bose RoomMatch system consisting of an RM5510 module on top for the farthest throw, followed by an RM7010, RM9020 and two RM12020 modules, all powered by a pair of Bose PowerMatch PM8500N networked configurable amplifiers.
“The Prichard Place Chapel was the most challenging of all,” Stengl recalls. “Besides the A-frame design, which caused flutter echoes and bass complications, it was also all hard, reflective surfaces. Keeping the sound off of those and on the seating area would be extremely difficult. But with the combination of using the Bose Modeler software to analyze the room and the precision waveguides in the RoomMatch loudspeakers, we achieved very intelligible sound in a very challenging space.”
The O’Neil Chapel utilized the same system components as the Prichard chapel, also using Bose rigging frames and hardware.
Calvary Chapel received the most comprehensive upgrade — including new video projection, switching systems and videoconferencing — underscoring its dual role as a training facility and worship venue. Intelligible sound was critical, and it was achieved using a system consisting of RoomMatch RM5510, RM7010, RM9020 and RM12020 modules, buttressed by four Panaray 310M speakers for fills and powered by two PowerMatch PM8500N networked amplifiers.
The Main Post Chapel’s sound was vastly improved via four Panaray 402 Series II speakers and a Panaray MB24 subwoofer, powered by a PowerMatch PM4500 amplifier. “The Main Post Chapel has several pillars that could affect the sound coverage,” says Stengl. “We used Modeler software and it made its recommendations. The result was everything the modeling predicted, so I’ve learned to trust it — and Bose — even more.”
The Ft. Knox Chapels
- Capacity: Main Chapel, 150; Calvary Chapel, 300; O’Neil Chapel, 200; Prichard Place Chapel, 500
- Key Components: Bose RoomMatch and Panaray
- Integrator: SKC and Axxis
- Designer: Keith Stengl
Christ Presbyterian Church, Edina, MN
In 1955, a group of Edina residents met to form a local Presbyterian church. Now, nearly 60 years later, Christ Presbyterian Church has more than 2,000 attending worship services and programming on Sunday mornings and Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings, with both traditional and contemporary services.
Reach Communications (Champlin, MN) recently upgraded the sound system in the main sanctuary. A Nexo GEO S12 line array in a white finish was chosen, with four GEO S1210 and one S1230 for the main hang, a GEO S1210 and four GEO S1230s on each hang for sides. Four of the new Nexo GEO M620s offer front fill with ten PS8s for under-balcony fill. Three NXAmp 4×4 and two 4×1 amplifiers power the system with five NXDT104 controllers.
Completed in 1998, the room was designed to reflect a Bostonian colonial architecture with soaring vaulted ceilings, plenty of natural light and clean white lines. “The old sound system was literally falling apart and in desperate need of replacement,” says music director David Hammond. “It was a 3-cluster trap system that left many ‘holes’ in coverage throughout the room. Reach engineers used Nexo modeling software to achieve remarkable coverage. The level of clarity was like night and day. In addition, the new system with Nexo RS15 Ray Subs gave us the full-bodied low end that had been completely lacking.”
According to Brad Van Voorst of Reach Communications notes that “The system serves well for both traditional and contemporary services. It performs great at any level and is consistent even as the level is pushed, with contemporary services running in the mid 90 dBA range. And Dante integration in the NXAmps kept the entire signal chain digital, which helps to reduce the overall noise floor.”
Prior to the Nexo installation, Reach installed a Yamaha CL5 digital console with two Rio3224-D input/output boxes. During the recent Nexo installation, a BSS London BLU806 was added to the system, so Dante networking can run directly from the CL5 to the BLU806 and then out to the Nexo amps. A Waves Server One and Waves plug-in package was also added as part of the recent audio upgrades.
Christ Presbyterian Church
- Capacity: 1,000
- Key Components: Nexo GEO S12 line array; Yamaha CL5 console
- Integrator: Reach Communications
- Designer: Brad Van Voorst
