All churches share the common goal of spreading the message. Some have a greater emphasis on spoken word; others rely more on music in any variety of styles, from liturgical to flat-out rock ‘n’ roll. Yet, all houses of worship need a sound system that provides clarity, intelligibility and musicality. With that in mind, we looked at some recent install projects.
Reimage Church, Winterville, NC
To better accommodate contemporary worship services, Reimage Church upgraded its sound system with Blaze Audio’s new Constant Curvature Array (CCA) loudspeakers.
AV integrator Hi Tech Electronics (Greenville, NC) was contracted to design and deploy the new system. “The sanctuary at Reimage Church is a large, semicircular space with seating for 1,200 people,” says Hi Tech president David Williams. “The edge of the stage faces directly into the arch of the room, which measures approximately 75 feet from the stage edge to the rear wall. This design can easily create considerable challenges for having consistent sounding audio throughout the entire space — particularly on the extreme left and right sides. This is precisely why loudspeakers with wide horizontal dispersion in addition to well-focused vertical throw were so important, a key factor that led us to deploy the CCA Series.”
The compact, 3-way arrayable CCA10i point source speaker is designed for medium-sized venues or large distributed systems that need a scalable solution. Mounted horizontally with tight acoustic centers to minimize comb filtering, each CCA10i enclosure provides a fixed 20-degree vertical coverage pattern and can be flown with additional enclosures in vertical arrays. The system’s constant curvature waveguide provides unprecedented array coherence along with precision 160° symmetrical horizontal pattern control.
“The installation includes three hangs — each with three Blaze Audio CCA10i-BA-B enclosures,” Williams reports. “The center cluster faces straight out toward the rear center of the room while the left/right arrays face into the mid area of the left and right sides. All three clusters are positioned directly over the front edge of the stage area. DSP is handled by Symetrix 8 X 8 and 16 X 16 Prism units, powered via Blaze Audio PowerZone Connect 3004 full-matrix power amps. A custom bracket holds the amps onto the back of the speaker enclosures.”
Eight WorxAudio UW18BP subwoofers installed with the original system back in the 90s were reused. “Like the new Blaze Audio speakers, the WorxAudio sub-bass enclosures were also designed by Hugh Sarvis, and this was a key factor that enabled us to retain the subwoofers and mate them with the new CCA enclosures. They all originated with the same loudspeaker engineer. It’s also my understanding that the WorxAudio designs are now the intellectual property of Blaze Audio.”
The church was one of the first to deploy the Blaze Audio CCA Series. “The clarity and pattern control on the CCA loudspeakers is nothing short of amazing. It doesn’t sound like you’re listening to a box — the sound seems to be everywhere. Speech intelligibility is excellent, and music reproduction is as clear and present as I’ve ever heard and this new system doesn’t complicate lines of sight,” says Williams. “Sonically, the sound is like a breath of fresh air, and everyone who hears this new system agrees.”
Reimage Church
- Capacity: 1,200
- Key Components: Blaze Audio CCA Series
- Integrator: Hi Tech Electronics, Inc.
Allison Park Church, Hampton, PA
Built on d&b audiotechnik speaker systems that deliver transformative live immersive experiences, d&b’s Soundscape is a spatial and augmented acoustics solution. “The definition and consistency the Soundscape system delivers is unparalleled by anything else we’ve experienced,” says Brandon Cecil, founder and VP of integrator Fresh Tech Integrated.
Fresh Tech selected the Soundscape system for the Hampton, PA campus of Allison Park Church — a challenging room to cover with traditional P.A. designs. “The room is extremely wide and fairly short; we modeled a couple of different options and all of them had a reduced experience toward the outside and back of the room,” says Cecil. “The goal from the beginning was to deliver a consistent experience to every seat and person who attends the church. Soundscape delivered so much consistency and fidelity that the average sound pressure level dropped by 10 dB in the first week,” he adds.
“We had the fortune of hearing d&b’s 24S and 44S point-source speakers in the room before a final design was chosen,” Cecil continues. “The power of the 24S is astonishing, delivering a full range, highly intelligible system in a compact enclosure. The 44S are the MVP of the front fill world. They are highly directional, extremely clear and have enough output to keep up with the late-night youth raves.” Part of d&b’s xS-Series of dedicated installation speakers, both the 24S and 44S feature a dipole woofer arrangement for improved directivity.
The 750-seat church’s open rafters and clear cable paths enabled an optimal installation experience. “The challenge in this room was how close the seating is to the front of the stage,” says Cecil. “It’s a very shallow stage with seats within 20 feet of unshielded drums, which presented problems with the previous P.A. Soundscape was able to properly cover every seat, providing the front and the back row a consistent experience.”
“Our goal is to achieve an authentic experience that does not feel overproduced and maintains a high level of excellence that engages people of all ages and backgrounds,” states church experience director Brendon Robinson. “Soundscape lets us immerse our audience and direct their attention in a way that lighting has done for hundreds of years, but audio has never been able to quite accomplish — until now. Other immersive or distributed audio systems attempting to do this have felt artificial, directing the attention to a loudspeaker instead of the person with the microphone. Soundscape doesn’t make you think about the speakers, but creates an environment that draws you in. Soundscape really goes past the immersive features — also delivering fidelity, coverage and audience engagement.”
The d&b system configuration includes three 5D and three 40D amplifiers, a DS10 network bridge and DS100 signal engine with En-Scene software module, seven 24S-D speakers for mains, six 44S loudspeakers for front fills, four 10S-D extensions and a sub array with five 21S SUBs.
On a technical level, Allison Park’s unique auditorium is designed to feel smaller and more intimate. “On many levels, this is an enormous win for the church,” adds Robinson, “as until Soundscape came along, the room has not been conducive to high-end audio systems performing well. The room’s trim height has always been a downfall for even coverage with traditional P.A. solutions, no matter how much money or time we were willing to throw at the problem, because you can’t change the laws of physics. We jokingly say Soundscape fixed physics, because that’s honestly how we feel about it. It has provided outstanding coverage with no dead spots or phase cancellation. Soundscape has finally delivered a solution that allows smaller or oddly shaped venues to deliver high quality, consistent listening experiences.”
Allison Park Church
- Capacity: 750
- Key Components: d&b audiotechnik Soundscape; 24S and 44S speakers
- Integrator: Fresh Tech Integrated
Eagle Brook Church, Minneapolis, MN
Based in the Minneapolis area, Eagle Brook Church is a continuously expanding Baptist megachurch. Hosting a weekly audience averaging 20,000, plus another 25,000 online, the church places high importance on its sound quality, evidenced by its music ministry having its own Spotify channel and a previous “rider-ready” touring-class sound system in its worship space. Wanting to stay at the forefront of sonic quality, integrator Summit Integrated Systems, based in Louisville, CO, organized a “shoot-out” comparison for a proposed P.A. for Eagle Brook’s Ham Lake, MN location. The winner was L-Acoustics.
Since then, Eagle Brook Church has upgraded the sound systems in five of its 11 locations with various L-Acoustics A10, A15i, and K3i systems. “They wanted sonic consistency from campus to campus,” says Deron Yevoli, Summit’s director of projects and engineering. “Only L-Acoustics could give them consistent tonality across a product range that allows them to choose the right product for a specific space and room in each church while still having the same sonic signature.”
Following the installation of an L-Acoustics A10 system at Ham Lake, Eagle Brook also installed a K3i system at its Woodbury campus and A15i systems at churches in White Bear, Apple Valley and Minneapolis. “We wanted to introduce them to brands with both excellent large- and midsized-format systems,” says Yevoli. “What drew the church to L-Acoustics was the consistent tonality of the systems across the product range and they could scale that tonality to all of their church buildings, regardless of size and shape.”
For instance, he points out that the A10 system was a perfect fit for Ham Lake’s relatively small (approximately 60 feet, end to end), flat-floored building. The Woodbury location’s 1,600 raked seats are more than well-filled by the larger K3i system, yet they share a consistent sonic timbre,” he adds.
Yevoli notes that Matt Beckstrom, the church’s tech-savvy production systems engineer, “really loves to dig deep into the digital insides of a system, which L-Acoustics’ collaborative tools like Soundvision and its Autofilter feature let us do, to achieve consistent SPL throughout all of the locations.”
Beckstrom confirms that, “from the beginning, we were impressed with L-Acoustics’ ability to help us achieve that in terms of our sound. We have a range of different boxes in different churches, but the consistency across all of them is impressive. It makes my role as a systems designer much easier and more effective.”
Speaking of design, Beckstrom is equally effusive about the L-Acoustics toolset, citing the fact that those tools are constantly being refined and improved. “For example, Autofilter’s frequency range, which had been focused on upper frequencies, has been extended downward, which helps analyze and optimize for a wider range of spaces and designs. And Soundvision has become invaluable to us, allowing us to predict how the sound will play in any corner of a space.”
Beckstrom also says he’s made extensive use of L-Acoustics’ Panflex technology, which provides sound designers like him with quick access to a choice of four horizontal directivity patterns: 70° or 110° symmetrical, or 90° asymmetrical on either side. “The asymmetrical capability, in particular, is amazing,” he says. “There have been times we’ve had to make design adjustments even during the installation phase of a project, so having that level of flexibility is huge. L-Acoustics is a big reason why this church sounds as good as it does everywhere.”
Eagle Brook Church
- Capacity: 2,100
- Key Components: L-Acoustics A10, A15i, and K3i
- Integrator: Summit Integrated Systems
Binh Thuan Church, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Established in 1966, Binh Thuan church is a notable religious site within Vietnam‘s Catholic community and one of the biggest churches in Ho Chi Minh City. Since its original construction, the church has been through several renovations and expansions. However, as the church building has grown, its existing sound system, which had been selected more for its aesthetic than acoustical properties, had not been able to keep up.
The church needed an audio solution that could deliver high-quality sound across the whole sanctuary with absolutely no delay or echo — a challenge, as the room’s reverberation time is more than four seconds. In addition to this, the speakers needed to be visually unobtrusive and blend into the church’s bright interior design.
The answer was found in white versions of models from the Electro-Voice EVC family of compact loudspeakers for fixed installation. Two EVC-1122-VI Vari-Intense two-way 12” speakers address the main congregational seating area, supported by seven EVC-1082 8” two-way speakers. The EVC-1122-VI has a unique asymmetrical horn design that allows uniform coverage in rectangular spaces, ensuring sermons can be heard clearly by every member of the congregation. In addition to the EVC models, a pair of EVID S4.2TB and two Bosch LB2-UC30-L1 compact installation cabinets complete the solution. Five Dynacord L1300FD 2x 650 W DSP amplifiers power the system.
Microphones ensure an equally high standard of audio quality at the input end of the signal chain. Four wired Electro-Voice ND96 dynamic supercardioid vocal mics are joined by four RE3 UHF wireless systems with ND96 handhelds. Capturing the harmonies of the choir are 12 RE92HW cardioid hanging mics.
Besides providing superb clarity for speaking and singing voices, the durability of Electro-Voice and Dynacord components mean that Binh Thuan Roman Catholic Church will be enjoying the advantages of its new audio solution for many years to come.
Binh Thuan Roman Catholic Church
- Key Components: Electro-Voice EVC-1122-VI
- Integrator: Duy Hoa Phat Corp
Golden Isles Church of God, Brunswick, GA
The Golden Isles Church of God serves the greater community of Brunswick, Georgia, and the outlying barrier islands. Spanish explorers seeking gold descended upon the territory more than 400 years ago, only to find golden isles rather than gold, hence the region’s name. The traditional styling of the church’s mid-sized sanctuary — with hardwood pews, high lofty ceilings and a raised central dais — hampered the speech intelligibility of events and services.
While modernizing the sanctuary’s decor and functionality, the church turned to Brian Bush, co-owner of All Seasons Audio, to redesign and retrofit the sanctuary’s audio system, with assistance from independent manufacturer’s rep Richard Hembree of Griffith Sales Associates. The solution came in the form of Renkus-Heinz technology to tame the acoustically challenging space.
“The old audio system didn’t cover the room evenly,” said Bush. “But we had to reuse the original loudspeaker mounting points due to limited access above the ceiling. To help overcome the layout limitations, we recommended Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers for their acoustic performance.”
All Seasons Audio deployed a center array of four VARIA VX101 speakers with individual VX101s used for side fills and a choir monitor. With a range of vertical and horizontal dispersion angles and Renkus-Heinz’s unique, Tuned Conic Diverter WaveGuides, VARIA’s highly configurable enclosures and ingenious hardware made it easy to custom design an array for the sanctuary.
Finishing out the system were two DRS18-2 subwoofers and two TX82 point-source speakers used as floor wedges next to the pulpit. The TX82 is a compact, dual 8-inch Complex Conic speaker is ideal for applications where small size, consistent directivity and outstanding sonic performance are required.
The church and congregation were thrilled with the new system. “The VARIA line arrays were perfect for Golden Isles’ sanctuary,” said Bush. “The wide range of vertical and horizontal dispersion angles these support made it easy for us to design a custom solution that could be mounted from the original hang points and fill the space with great audio everywhere.”
Golden Isles Church of God
- Key Components: Renkus-Heinz VARIA VX101
- Integrator: All Seasons Audio
Parish of St. Nicholas Tavelić, Rijeka, Croatia
The Parish of St. Nicholas Tavelić was built in 1988 in Rijeka, a coastal Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea. This Franciscan church and monastery was designed by architect Boris Magaš and features an unusual protruding exterior that resembles a dove or ark.
The church’s complex interior architecture is dominated by large flat concrete surfaces and several recessed areas with decorative woodcuts by the Russian artist Zvyagin that depict the way of the cross. The task of improving sound coverage and speech intelligibility came to Pula, Croatia-based integrator LAV Projekt, who proposed a solution that replaced the sanctuary’s outdated, poor-quality existing audio system. A key challenge was enriching the sound quality of the liturgical celebration while not affecting the visual identity of the space.
LAV Projekt proposed a solution based around RCF speakers. Four RCF L 2406T W white three-way column array speakers were installed above the altar to cover the congregation area; four ultra-compact RCF DM 41 B speakers handle recessed spaces above the seats and choir; and an RCF MR 40 W two-way, point-source control speaker is placed in the sacristy. Additionally, two RCF MQ 80P W outdoor speakers above the entrance doors welcome parishioners as they approach the church.
Each RCF L2406T W column has six 5″ woofers and four 1″ dome tweeters placed in front of the woofers’ centers. This special design allows coherent dispersion of sound while minimizing echo. An ultra-wide 150-degree horizontal coverage angle and controlled 30-degree vertical dispersion enable correct sound reproduction over a wide area and help limit reverberant sound. To improve voice intelligibility, the onboard speech filters on each column were engaged.
Audio is driven by a rack of equipment in the church’s sacristy, and the main component of the system is the Xilica A0808 Neutrino, a digital sound processor that controls all input channels, processes the audio signal and routes it — via amplifiers — to specific zones in the church. The entire system is largely automated; however, manual control of input channel selection, volume control and output zone selection, is provided via a 7″ Android touch panel installed with the XILICA Xtouch.
Other upgrades included Audix M1250BS supercardioid miniature “shotgun” mics for the altar and pulpit, an Audix AP42 OM2A diversity UHF wireless set with an R42 two-channel receiver, two OM2 wireless handhelds and a HT7 BG3P omni headset paired with a B60 bodypack transmitter. Two Audix ANTDA4161 directional active antennas enhance the wireless reception.
Church leaders were very pleased with the new audio system, which is easy to operate, delivers high-quality sound and blends in visually with the sanctuary’s aesthetics.
St. Nicholas Tavelić Church
- Key Components: RCF L 2406T W Column Arrays
- Integrator: LAV Projekt
St. Charles Borromea, Visalia, CA
The largest Catholic Church in the U.S., the new $21 million St. Charles Borromeo Church in Visalia, CA, seats 3,400. It has a footprint of nearly an acre, laid out in a massive cruciform design with a 320-foot central axis and two side transepts forming the cross shape.
Audio / acoustical consultant Rocky Giannetta at GIA Design Group selected Spider Ranch Productions to take on the complex job of installation/integration of the new sound system.
The design phase began with Giannetta acoustically modeling the from-the-ground-up construction project. The building architect wanted an open look, specifying that no speakers could hang below the wooden rafters that support the roof of the nave and transepts. As another complication, the project was scheduled to start just as Covid was beginning, creating numerous construction delays.
To meet challenges that included the space’s 2.1-second reverberation time, Giannetta and SRP’s integration project manager and senior systems engineer Mark Sweet opted for Danley’s full-range SH50 and four SH60 Synergy Horn speakers. The SH50 and SH60 are three-way, double-12, horn-loaded systems with 50°x50° or 60°x60° dispersion, opening into a 28”x28” horn mouth.
“In these larger rooms, speaker system directivity — getting the sound down onto the people — is very important, and directivity below the crossover point in the low-mid 200 Hz to 1k Hz area really helps intelligibility and sonic presence at lower SPLs,” Sweet explains. “And these higher-directivity Danley speakers are large enough to reproduce those wavelengths, into the 400-500 Hz range, where there’s still directivity.”
Powersoft Ottocanali and Quattrocanali amps drive the system, which includes 24 Danley, four Renkus-Heinz, and eight Soundtube speakers. In addition to the SH50 and SH60 mains, six SM100 and two SH95 units supplement the nave coverage. Two SM60F provide upstage side-fill coverage for choir and ancillary seating, while six Danley THMini 12” subs add LF punch. Two Renkus-Heinz CX41 4” coaxials cover the large altar area, with Soundtube CM 500i-WH and SM 500i-II speakers in the sacristy and narthex ceilings. Additionally, two Danley SBH20LF-AT columns on light poles cover the large outdoor patio area.
The mic selection includes Earthworks FW730 choir and FMR 600 / FMR 500 pulpit mics and Mipro 848 and 828 digital wireless systems that interconnect via Dante.
A Xilica Solaro FR-1D mainframe supplies open-architecture 40-bit floating point DSP, handling 64×64 bidirectional audio channels over Dante. A 40-channel Yamaha TF-1 console with 16 mic/line inputs, 16 analog outs and a 64×64 AoIP Dante card provides the digital mix. Services are livestreamed via three PTZ Optics video cameras with an NDI interface.
The long project stretched out over several years. “But,” Sweet reports, “once it was completed and all tuned in, the musicians and other people from the church came in and heard it. Everybody loved it.”
Saint Charles Borromeo
- Capacity: 3,400
- Key Components: Danley SH50 & SH60
- Integrator: Spider Ranch Productions
