Great Lakes Christian Church in Warren, Michigan, has occupied its beautiful 500-seat sanctuary for nearly 40 years. Its outlook and services are decidedly traditional, with music performed by an all-volunteer orchestra of musicians from 17 to 76 years old. As it became clear that the original sound reinforcement system’s many problems would be solvable with a new system, the church members decided to take on much of the labour, with integration firm Advanced Lighting & Sound handling the design, installation, and commissioning.
‘The main speakers were installed in 1980 as part of the original build of the facility,’ explains, long-time Facilities Manager, Terry Scott. ‘We changed mixing boards three times over the years and added/subtracted other equipment. It had a lot of hot spots that were too loud and dead spots that were too quiet. Over the years, we attempted to fill in the dead spots with supplemental loudspeakers, but it didn’t work too well.’
‘Terry realised that if they simply replaced their existing loudspeakers with other music store loudspeakers, they’d just be going sideways,’ says Advanced Lighting & Sound co-owner, Bob Minchella. ‘The Trustees trust Terry, but the question was, how could the church afford something of higher calibre?
‘Advanced Lighting & Sound had worked with Terry and the church over the years, mainly repairing items when needed. They trusted us, and so together we came up with a design and a plan that would allow Terry and a group of church volunteers to do as much of the work themselves as possible. We would only come in for the very specialised work of, for example, terminating wires, performing the overall system EQ and flying the loudspeakers.
‘Given their emphasis on natural reproduction, Danley’s patented Synergy Horn technology seemed like the obvious choice,’ he continues. ‘We did a Danley install at Meadow Brook Theatre, which is associated with Oakland University here in Michigan. It’s part of the music department, and several music professors stopped by while we were tuning the system. They were confused because it sounded like a live orchestral rehearsal! It sounded that real! For Great Lakes, we modelled the room using Danley Direct modelling software to choose the ideal boxes given the shape of the room and the best places to hang loudspeakers. That also gave the church Trustees confidence in our design.’
The final mono system uses two SH96HT loudspeakers for left and right coverage of the majority of the pews, with two SH95HOs set further back in the sanctuary for delays. The ushers, who sit against the back wall, are especially appreciative of the new system’s intelligibility. In addition, three Go2 8CX loudspeakers fly above the stage to act as monitors, with four 6-inch-cube Nanos serving as orchestral spot monitors. ‘The musicians were impressed by the Nano’s very natural near-field sound,’ Minchella says.
Crown XT amplifiers power the system, and a new 96kHz Allen & Heath SQ-7 console gives the church modern digital convenience and sound quality. New wired Earthworks microphones and Shure ULXD wireless microphones complete the package.
‘We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from the congregation.’ Minchella reports, ‘It’s tempting for churches to fall into a race to the bottom with new technology, falling for the least expensive product because the advertising makes it seem like a win-win. But when the church can actually hear the difference, they make different decisions. Great Lakes Christian Church did a nice job of finding the right technology along with a way to make it happen on a budget. As a result, they now have a system that is remarkably articulate and even from front to back and from side to side. It’s got plenty of gain and is very predictable.’
