Beginning as a small mission church on Singapore’s Tanglin Road in 1958 for 30 to 40 children, Grace Assembly of God Church (AOG) has become a multi-generational family church of about 4,000 worshippers running 13 services on any given weekend. Along with its success, however, AOG faced a constant shortage of space, leading to a move to redevelop its existing building – including the need for sound.
When the go-ahead was given, the church wasted no time and assembled an outstanding development team under the new leadership of senior pastor Calvin Lee. With one large hall on two levels as the main sanctuary and three smaller worship halls, along with offices and other rooms, a premier sound system was a pre-requisite.
Robert Soo of Cogent Acoustics was appointed A/V consultant for the project, with Electronics & Engineering (E&E) winning the tender for the supply and integration of systems. ‘For the main hall, I proposed a point source system rather than a line array for two main reasons,’ Soo explains. ‘It would not only give much better control over the various sections of the two level worship hall, but would also ensure an unobstructed view of the three large LED video walls at the stage front. As the ceiling height is low for the other three smaller halls, an EAW point-source speaker system was chosen.
‘We needed a quality power amplifier system that was consistent, reliable and would drive the EAWs efficiently. So when E&E proposed the Powersoft K and M series, the decision was almost a no brainer.’
Thirty amplifiers are assigned to drive the different parts of an EAW system. These comprised the powerful K series in the form of four K2, three K8, and a K10, as well as a M28Q, two M14D, 12 M20D, five M30D and a pair of M50Q. The speaker system comprises six QX596 and four SB1002 subs, backed up with four MK5396, 22 MK2396, four MK8196, six JF10, 24 VFM109 and four SB180.
Five Yamaha CL mixers have also been provided for mixing. All are run on a network, so that any mixer in any hall is able to access any input source from any hall. ‘This makes it powerful and flexible for the operational crew running their events and programmes,’ says Soo, adding that the amplifiers have been working flawlessly, adding to the immersive experience that the sound system and visuals afford the congregation.’
