Having outgrown its previous 300-400 seat sanctuary, Freedom Church in Acworth, Georgia, has opened the doors on a new 1,000-seat auditorium with a sound system built around EAW Newport Series line arrays to deliver the clarity and consistency for worship services, youth events, conferences and other large gatherings.
In solving one problem the new sanctuary created a different one, however, with its steeply raked, amphitheatre-style layout offering a small flat floor with seating that rises sharply toward the back. Standard PA system coverage patterns would not reach every seat evenly. MessengerAVL turned to EAW Newport Series line arrays along with additional supporting loudspeakers, subwoofers and amplifiers to meet the church’s ambitious goals.
‘I showed them EAW, and they’ve just fallen in love with the brand ever since,’ says. MessengerAVL Director of Product, Parker Gann. ‘We’re fans of the product and the people. The EAW team has been great. They’ve supported us really well across a number of projects.’
Freedom Church’s leadership first heard EAW during a demo several years ago, where the ADAPTive series left a strong impression. When EAW later introduced the NT206L line array, MessengerAVL knew it was the right fit for the new auditorium. ‘When it launched, I immediately recognised it as a night-and-day improvement over the church’s existing system,’ says Gann. ‘We contacted the tech director and made the decision to replace the speakers, and fortunately, there was still enough time to make the swap.’
To handle the room’s asymmetrical shape, MessengerAVL designed a system that could deliver precise coverage from front to back. The final EAW deployment includes 22 NT206L line array modules (11 per side), MKD1294 loudspeakers for outside fill, an MKD826 for centre fill, MKC50s for front fill and four flown RSX218 subwoofers, all powered by Dante-enabled EAW UXA4807D and UXA4403D amplifiers, with the NT modules operating self-powered.
‘It’s a big and very unusually shaped room for what most churches build,’ Gann explains. ‘There’s a very small flat floor and then just straight raked audience all the way up. So, it’s the perfect room for line arrays where you need J‑shaped, asymmetrical coverage.’
MessengerAVL wired the system with per-box processing, allowing Gann to EQ each element for its specific seating zone. He also took advantage of EAW’s rotatable horizontal dispersion fins to control energy in the long upper rows. ‘We rotated the horizontal dispersion fins in the top four boxes of the line array,’ he says. ‘By flipping the fins from 110° to 80°, we were able to get more focused energy on the top rows without slamming the sidewalls, which at the time were untreated.
‘I was surprised at how fast it tuned,’ Gann adds, ‘and Resolution software did a good job. What we saw there matched what we were hearing in real life.’
The system faced its first real test during a worship night; the first public event held in the new space: ‘They were pushing 102–104dB for a good 30 minutes, and the system was doing a great job of keeping up,’ Gann says. ‘The NT206Ls are by far the most powerful and the highlight of that system.’
Freedom Church has also noticed the difference compared to their previous system. ‘The sound quality is much clearer,’ Gann says. ‘They’re very impressed by the clarity, especially in the back of the room.’