Serving the Tri-Cities community of Richand, Washington, Bethel Church’s dissatisfaction with its sanctuary sound system has seen Technical Director Sam Rodriguez and his team look to Danley Sound for a replacement. 

Over the course of a year, Rodriguez and the Bethel Church technical staff invested time travelling to sister churches and venues in order to listen to a variety of premium sound systems. They studied coverage graphs created by these prospective manufacturers’ prediction software, and spoke to a variety of prospective integrators.

‘After hearing our favourite line array options, we determined our budget and made the decision at the executive level to allocate the funds,’ Rodriguez reports. ‘Then, it was up to select which system we thought best. Before making our final choice, Dave Dartnall, CEO and founder of Focus, introduced to Danley Sound Labs and some options which might provide a better system for us.’

Dartnall was not new to sound for houses of worship having worked in pastoral and worship leadership for more than 40 years before founding Focus. His in-depth knowledge of the Church, experience, teaching skills and commitment to his faith are responsible for the Focus’ reputation.

As the Bethel team continued their speaker review, they listened to Danley Sound Labs products twice and were drawn to the J7-95 Jericho Horn and TH118XL subwoofer. While the speakers’ clarity and energy were self evident, the accuracy of the predicted audio coverage was critical to selection.

‘The Bethel team was clear that everything said, sung, played and prayed mattered,’ Dartnall says. ‘Danley offers incredible clarity, exceptional sound quality, best-in-market pattern control, unmatched power, and more. They also offer a punchy, full, resonate and not muddy low end that few, if any other systems could offer.’

‘After receiving Focus’ proposal from Dave, we were shocked at how much less the Danley system would cost compared to the highest-end line array systems we were considering,’ Rodriguez says. ‘We were so elated that we decided to upgrade three additional venues in the building with Danley, as well as have the best Allen & Heath mixing systems in all the rooms.’

The first installation was the Church’s main auditorium, a 1,500-seat fan-shaped space with balcony. Here, te church installed three J7-95 loudspeakers for its mains and four TH118XL subwoofers. For coverage under the balcony, four SHMini loudspeakers were used and two Go2-8CX loudspeakers for front side fill. The system is powered by four Danley DNA 20K4 Pro amplifiers for mains, subs, and side fill, and a DNA 5K4C amplifier for the SHMini loudspeakers.

Loudspeakers and amplifiers weren’t the only consideration, however. With such a high-quality installation, considerations were also made for the church’s mixing set-up. They chose the Allen & Heath dLive platform and selected the S7000 surface for the main sanctuary, including two AH-M-DL-Dante128-A Dante 128x128 networking cards, two AH-M-DL-GAce-A 128x128 96kHz gigaAce cards and an AH-DX168 Stage Box.

The cost saving over other options also allowed the church to install Danley loudspeaker systems throughout its three other auditoria.

The next room was the HUB, a multi-use worship room: ‘While the main auditorium was straight forward, the HUB auditorium was more of a challenge,’ Dartnall says. ‘The HUB has a polished cement floor and an HVAC venting system that cuts across the middle of the room hiding the former speakers from half of the seating area. This made front of house mixing positions nearly useless.’

The solution took the form of SBH10 loudspeakers mounted on each side of the stage, as well as under the HVAC system obstruction. Because of the loudspeakers’ tight vertical and wide horizontal dispersion pattern, it offered premium sound without reflecting off the floors. In addition to the mains, a THMini subwoofer was also installed, all powered by a Danley DNA 10K4 amplifier.

For the Church’s Kids & Desert View auditoria, a Danley Mini 180 loudspeaker and THMini-12 subwoofer were used in each room and each powered by a DNA 5K4C amplifier. For the discipleship and training use, Allen & Heath SQ5 consoles were also installed in each of the other auditoria as well.

‘We got so much more for the money by choosing Danley,’ Rodriguez says. ‘Coverage is even across all seating areas with the same amazing sound no matter where people may sit, even in or under the balcony, or in the extreme corners up front or in the back of the room.’

‘In addition to the dozens of “thank you” handshakes and hugs I received on the first Sunday with the new Danley system, there was a moment when I knew the new system was the right choice,’ Dartnall adds. ‘Bethel’s professional drummer walked into the auditorium during the first song, stopped in his tracks, spread his arms open wide, and looking up with his head tilted back said, “his is unbelievable”, and stood there soaking it all in for a moment before he and his wife went to be seated. They couldn’t be happier with the outcome.’