The Calvary Baptist Church
USA - The snow kept falling and falling. And falling. Reaching two feet, the weight of the snow was too much for the roof to bear at Calvary Fellowship, Downington. Ruptured pipes irreparably flooded the 1,100-seat sanctuary at a cost of over a million dollars in damage. “Luckily nobody was hurt,” says a thankful Lee Wiggins, head pastor at the church.
The renovation was major, and it changed the physical design of the space. Improvements were made at all levels, which rendered the budget to complete important final details relatively low. “Money was an issue but we all felt we still needed to offer our congregation the best possible worship experience, especially the level of quality of the audio production that delivers our sermons,” points out Pastor Lee. “So we called Clair Brothers.”
Clair Brothers was faced with a number of challenges in their effort to deliver a full-frequency PA sound system that wouldn’t take up floor space but had to fit architecturally while also not interrupting the space’s new lighting and video projection systems. “Our toughest challenge was figuring out how to overcome the washed-up sound common in many churches, where the audio waves underneath the low balcony ceiling get lost,” explains Josh Sadd, chief design engineer at Clair Brothers. “It’s not enjoyable for the people sitting in those seats.”
The physical and budgetary limitations required Clair Brothers to work through multiple possible speaker combinations to achieve the most effective solution to meet their client’s needs.
The Clair Brothers team decided the best equipment to meet the challenge was to install three of its signature i218s per side as the main PA, which would act as the left/right PA and transmit the low-end sound of a subwoofer. Two kiTCurve12 cabinets were installed as the centre cluster, performing as front fills to attain the most effective vocal imaging in the front.
All told, the system only consists of i218s and kiTCurve12s - a total of eleven speaker boxes. With this bold approach, Clair Brothers saved Calvary Fellowship not only thousands in costs but also on amp channels. This meant reduced install costs with less wire to pull and significantly fewer labour hours.
Rob Barr, production coordinator at Calvary Fellowship points out: “This new arrangement works on every level. It covers the entire space with full frequency range. Another great benefit is that this speaker system is designed to grow as our church grows.”
(Jim Evans)

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