Old Fort Church holds two worship services each Sunday. The first is a "blended experience" with a mix of traditional and contemporary worship styles. The second is a "modern experience" featuring videos and contemporary Christian music led by a praise band.
According to worship arts leader Mike Sooy, music plays a very important part in both services, and great sound was therefore a priority for the new facility. "We wanted to take things to the next level," he said. Sooy also emphasized the importance of speech clarity. "If they can't hear the message," he continued, "what's the point?"
Sound Solutions of Ohio designed and installed Old Fort Church's new audio system along with its video and environmental projection systems. To meet the church's goals, Sound Solutions' Dennis Cimo designed a split cluster loudspeaker system using two Community IP6-1122/64 two-way, 12-inch loudspeakers per side supplemented by a pair of IS6-215 subwoofers located beneath the stage.
Computer modelling showed this design would cover the sanctuary evenly with little or no "spill" onto the stage. Cimo also recommended that the church install acoustic panels in strategic locations to reduce unwanted echoes and optimize the room's reverberation time.
Crown XTI amplifiers power the system and a Community dSPEC226AN provides loudspeaker management and DSP services. The church has a selection of wired and wireless microphones mixed through an Allen & Heath Qu-32 digital mixer.
Cimo says, "We are very pleased with the performance of the Community I Series loudspeakers. The coverage and musical clarity are excellent and the subwoofers provide that low end impact that the church wanted in the praise and worship music."
A church member told him, "Wow, you made our praise band sound like a different band!" Sooy noted that the spoken word is very clear and the quality of the music has improved noticeably. He commented, "Every church has some grumbling. But, when we put in this new system, it dropped to almost zero."
(Jim Evans)
