According to Eric Johnson, technical director for Sun Valley, "Sun Valley Tempe merged with Bethany Church two and a half years ago and we inherited a large campus and an auditorium with technical capabilities that were deficient by today's standards. The audio system was old and primarily designed for natural speech, orchestra and choir reinforcement in an acoustic setting. That, plus the building is a complex geometrical design, basically a five-sided pentagon with a seven-sided auditorium that's about 160 degrees wide, has a raked floor, many complex angles and no parallel surfaces. Needless to say, this presented a real challenge when it came to choosing a new loudspeaker system.
"The original system had worked for many years," Johnson continues, "but changing times, culture and styles made us realize that it no longer served our purposes for electric rock and roll style music. We decided on a major renovation that involved changing the seating from traditional pews to modern theatre style seats and going from a totally carpeted floor to carpeting only in the aisles. We also reduced the size of the stage, pulling back the downstage edge by about twelve feet in addition to upgrading the lighting and audio system.
"And there was a real concern as to whether or not we could put in a system that would adequately reinforce rock and roll without overwhelming the live-sounding room. So we discussed acoustically treating the room, which would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or completely tearing down the ceiling and remodelling the room from the inside which wasn't feasible either."
Johnson was aware of the Martin Audio MLA system having first heard it several years ago during a demo at Comerica Theater in downtown Phoenix. "I had an idea of what the technology was about," he points out, "but I was really impressed with what I heard. The possibility of MLA and the MLA Compact system specifically, led us to realize that the technology would allow us to precisely control the audio output and put the energy onto the seats while keeping it off the ceilings and walls. So that's the direction we decided to pursue."
The installed system for the 1300-seat auditorium consists of nine MLA Compact enclosures per side in left-right hangs with seven Martin Audio DSX subs in bunkers arranged in arc formation along the downstage edge.
Two WT3 speakers for extreme left and right out-fill and six DD6 speakers for front-fill complete the system with Martin Audio MA3.0 and MA2.8Q amplifiers and a Merlin Processor that manages the outfills and front fills, as well as communications between the speakers. The rest of the setup currently includes a Soundcraft MH2 40-channel Desk at FOH Sennheiser Evolution Series wireless and DPA microphones.
Summing up about the impact of MLA Compact on Sun Valley, Johnson concludes, "One notable thing that happened on the first Sunday we used system is that the doors from the worship center out to the lobby are usually opened up when it's time to come in the room, but it was a nice day so the exterior doors from the lobby out to the patio were also open. One person commented that the reason he came in was that when the music started, he could hear our worship leader as clear as a bell all the way out onto the patio, which we could never do before the MLA Compact."
(Jim Evans)
