The job was set up after a meeting at the PALA show in Hong Kong, with Paul MacCallum, MD of Wembley, subsequently visiting Kuala Lumpur. The company has recently launched a new series of cabinets to suit a variety of applications (from 150W to 1200W), with high quality sound throughout the range. Having surveyed the ‘venue’, MacCallum specified a system that is more likely to be found in a club than a church. The reason for the spec was that the church has services twice a week, incorporating music from a full 11-piece rock/gospel band with 10 singers.
"The project was great to work on from the aspect that the clients were very keen to have high quality sound for every member of the congregation," said MacCallum. "The sheer scale of the church dictated the size of the PA and we worked with recording studio builders to acoustically treat the walls and ceiling, to prevent unwanted echos, reverberation or bass traps."
The main system installed in Kuala Lumpur consisted of a flown centre cluster of four Spyder (full range, trapezoidal, 600W) speaker cabinets with the new Nemesys (1200W) concert cabs at either side, which were launched at this year’s PLASA Show. QSC and Zeck amplifiers were selected for the installation to drive the 6000 watts of speakers, to ensure "all components of the system were of the highest standard".
Wembley Loudspeaker’s HP12-3D speaker cabinets, also launched at PLASA, were installed as stage monitors for the musicians and singers. The whole PA system is mixed from a dedicated area at the front of the balcony, not only for the congregation, but also into direct digital recording equipment. This colossal multi-purpose church also includes a dedicated 400-capacity room for the Youth Movement, in the format of a small disco with a stage for musicians. The system in this room comprises two 2820 sub bass and two 15-400 speakers, also driven by QSC amps.
A & L Technology completed the installation of the equipment, supplied through Wembley's Malaysian agent, Bruce Bendrey. Aside from this installation, Bendrey has also placed two of the new HPi-8 speakers (studio version) in one of Kuala Lumpur's leading recording studios - Scat Productions, and is now working on new installations for three large themed pubs in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
(Lee Baldock)
