Father’s House Church in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa, turned to long-time integration partner Stage Audio Works (SAW) to furnish its sanctuary with a sound system that addresses its wide seating, low ceilings and concrete floors.
Balancing music and intelligible spoken word with uniform coverage throughout the room required an alternative to a conventional PA configuration, and prompted SAW to adopt a decentralised approach – bringing the loudspeakers closer to the audience and drastically reducing room reflections.
‘In spaces with reflective concrete floors and low head-height, pushing sound across long distances usually backfires, creating a wash of room reflections that buries the vocals,’ says Kieren Hempel of Stage Audio Works.
‘By distributing point-source cabinets in localised zones, we keep direct acoustic energy focused where the congregation is sitting. It delivers dynamic worship impact and vocal precision without forcing FOH to fight the building.’
Tailored to contemporary worship, The Father’s House Church system installed Plus Audio CPH212 and CPH210 point-source speakers for main system and delays, with ET218B subwoofers and CPU105 point source boxes for front fill. Driven by networked AC415 and AC420 Dante amplifiers, the system relies on onboard DSP and FIR filtering to ensure an uncompromised signal chain and exact time alignment across all zones. The result has given the church’s technical production crew much improved consistency of the mix. By eliminating volume drop-offs and uneven frequency response across the sanctuary, the mix at FOH faithfully translates to the rear seats and side wings.
The project is the latest chapter in a relationship between the two parties that began when Father’s House Church first held services on the campus of Nelson Mandela University, where SAW supported its early technical needs. ‘The SAW team understood our vision from the very beginning,’ says Vincent Swanepoel of Father’s House Church. ‘They presented us with clear, well-considered design approaches tailored specifically to our space, making it easy for leadership to approve a system that serves our entire congregation every Sunday. The collaboration felt natural, and the result speaks for itself.’