Coda system installed in Danville’s Hope Church
- Details
In recent months, 5WM has been working through a programme of audio installations in houses of worship using Coda Audio loudspeakers. Whilst the challenges of the Coronavirus have impacted the audio industry as never before, owner and design principal, Daniel Gourley and his team have worked tirelessly within regulatory constraints to install the systems whilst churches have been temporarily closed.
A recent initiative by 5WM was its #FreeChurchAV contest which invited churches across the US to pitch for a new AV system by telling their story and highlighting the benefits that upgrading technology within their church could bring. Music and the spoken word play a fundamental part in a church’s activities, so in tandem with a number of their suppliers, 5WM put together an AV offer which attracted more than 500 entries across the country.
The lucky recipient of the system was Hope Church in Danville, Virginia, where 5 Words felt that a new system would have the greatest impact. Having taken account of the Church’s requirements, Daniel undertook a thorough design process, before arranging the shipment of all materials and sending a team from Arizona to complete the install. A major part of the project was the purchase of a Coda Audio N-APS system, which was installed in time for the church’s post-lockdown reopening.
Daniel Gourley reports: “I first became aware of Coda Audio when I stumbled into an InfoComm listening room in Las Vegas in 2016. The presentation had several smaller boxes on display - HOPS5 was one - and the owner was discussing CODA’s unique approach to manufacturing pro audio loudspeaker systems. The sound was clean and precise and I was ‘hooked’.
“At Hope Church, we wanted to install a compact system that had a powerful output. The church’s ceiling was only 18ft high and needed not only to carry the weight of the N-APS top boxes, but the subs flown above as well. Initially, weight was a concern - the church was built in the 1970s and wasn’t designed to carry heavy loads flown overhead - but the Coda speakers are so light it wasn’t a problem. I’ve always been amazed at how much sound comes out of such a small box.
“The system was loaded into the System Optimizer which uses Coda’s predictive software, and selected two HOPS8i boxes as side-fills for the alcove spaces on each side of the stage.”
Hope Church’s student ministry director and tech leader, Jonathan Wright, was present with his team when the system was first switched on: “To be selected for the install was super exciting because we knew just how much improving our AV facilities would positively impact in our work here at Hope Church. The 5 Words Media team was so thorough and professional in everything they did, whilst at the same time feeling like friends we’d known for years. When they first switched on the Coda system, we were pretty stunned by the power and clarity - I was blown away.”
