The lockdowns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic gave the Mar Thoma Church of Dallas pause to consider an upgrade to its sound system. The church’s need to quickly convert to virtual online worship services exposed the limitations of its aging analogue system and, after 25 years of growth, the timing was right for the church to revise its approach to A/V.

‘That experience made us realise that we needed to upgrade to a modern digital system to meet both our virtual and in-person worship needs,’ explains Aby Thomas, executive committee member and sound upgrade convenor for the church. ‘We sourced several companies and made the decision to use Apex, who visited our facility, listened to our needs and presented us with a solution proposal that fit our approved budget.’

Based in nearby Wylie, Texas, Apex General Trading is a start-up integration company that is a specialist in digital A/V. Headed by friends and partners Dipu Harilal, a disabled US veteran, and IT audio specialist Tinto Skaria, Apex was invited to bid on the Mar Thoma upgrade after the church heard another Dallas-Fort Worth-area church audio installation that Skaria had designed and installed.

‘I think the reason we won the job was our approach – which was to learn the legacy system and how it was used, then take a step back to assess their current needs,’ Harilal explains. ‘Between the need for streaming services and a move toward more contemporary music presentation, it was clear that the church needed to go digital. There were a lot of options, but after consulting with our primary pro audio dealer, Sound Productions, we decided to work with Electro-Voice and Dynacord audio gear in putting our proposal together.’

Working with the church’s needs and budget, Apex developed a proposal based around Ease models developed from blueprints of the 800-capacity facility. The sound system consists of twin EVH-1152D horn-loaded mains, backed by a pair of EVF-2151D subwoofers hidden above and behind the altar area. Additional coverage is handled by two EVC-1082 point-source loudspeakers as fill for seating behind the choir area. All loudspeakers are finished in matching white EVCoat.

Inputs, levels, DSP and other tasks across the Dante-enabled system are handled via a Dynacord MXE5 Matrix Mix Engine, and the system is powered by two Dynacord DSP amplifiers – an IPX10:8 and an IPX5:4.

‘Having the entire system networked is a very powerful approach,’ explains Skaria. ‘The system interface is Dynacord’s SoniCue software, which we used to set up the MXE5, creating custom profiles for each audio zone and optimising loudspeaker performance. Initially, the system levels and EQ settings are all programmed and locked into the MXE5, with a future goal of creating touchscreen access after the church staff is fully trained.’

The new system was unveiled in autumn 2022. Thomas reports that the upgrade instantly proved to be worth the wait: ‘The EV sound system has had a huge impact on our worship,’ says Thomas. ‘The church choir is ecstatic over the quality of the sound, and several church members have made similar comments. All agree that this project has been a huge success, meeting all our needs within the approved budget. Moving forward, the Apex team continues to help us train new A/V Team users to meet both the in-person and virtual needs of our growing parish. We are extremely happy with the results.’