As part of a new youth facility, the Oakland Baptist Church called on full-service A/V integrator Sutherland Sight & Sound to install a sound reinforcement system. After consulting with church officials over requirements, Project Manager – and senior technical project leader for this installation – Michael Embry designed a system based around DAS Audio Vantec-20A Active Curved Source Line Array enclosures and Vantec-218A powered subwoofers.

‘The youth facility at Oakland Baptist Church measures 60ft long by 62ft wide; the stage area is 20ft long by 27ft wide and faces into the width of the room,’ Embry says. ‘Seating capacity is roughly 300 people, and the seats are moveable – making it easier to adapt the space to different event requirements, since it is frequently used for various gatherings and special events in addition to the weekly church services. Church services involve a considerable amount of music, so the system had to have both clear speech and excellent music reproduction.’

The system includes six Vantec-20A line array loudspeakers – flown three enclosures each for the left and right hangs, which are suspended over the front edges of the stage area. Low frequency support is provided by a pair of Vantec-218A powered subwoofers, with one enclosure each positioned on the floor for the left and right sides.

‘Sound quality is, obviously, the most important requisite and, in this regard, the Vantec-20A is a very well-designed loudspeaker,’ Embry says. ‘It provides a high level of speech intelligibility while also having solid music reproduction capabilities – while having a compact form factor that never distracts the audience’s attention. I was also impressed with the system’s easy wireless control for gain shading, along with the quick and clean linear response that results in a very natural sound using FIR filters. The power efficiency of the system is excellent, and the hardware makes rigging the system much easier than many competing products.

‘I should also point out that, originally, we had planned on using a few fill speakers as part of the system,’ he adds. ‘After we tuned the room, however, we found that the position of the flown clusters in the layout of the room made this unnecessary. The Vantec-20A’s dispersion provided all the coverage that was necessary.’

The installation work began in June 2020 and the new system was brought into service later the same year. Since then, the DAS Audio equipment has been very well received. ‘This system installation has been a huge success,’ says Oakland Baptist Church’s Clay Hughes. ‘The audio quality is first-rate no matter where you happen to be seated in the room. The spoken word is remarkably clear, and this enables the congregation to fully grasp the nature of the sermon. Likewise, the system’s ability to reproduce music is equally impressive.

‘The end result is that the DAS equipment makes services much more engaging and meaningful. I’d also like thank the entire team at Sutherland Sight & Sound. They were great to work with, always open to suggestions and, ultimately, they delivered a system that will serve this church well for many years to come.’