Christ Community upgrades with EAW Anna
- Details
The new EAW upgrade consists of a total of 12 Anna loudspeaker arrays, four Otto subwoofers and eight EAW JF8 2-way loudspeakers. The eight JF8’s are used as front-fill speakers and are spread out evenly from the back of the platform in a trapezoidal pattern. The new EAW ADAPTive PA system is run through an Allen & Heath dLive console.
Built in 2000, Christ Community Church’s sanctuary was originally designed to be very wide, but not very deep. This architectural design presented the main acoustical challenge for Pierce; finding a stereo image that would cover the correct areas without blasting the back walls and filling the thrust stage with sound.
“We couldn't just put up any line array because it wouldn't cover the room properly,” says Pierce. “We are now playing a lot more contemporary, modern worship songs with louder guitars and drums, and the sound system wasn't cooperating with us. We had blown drivers, poor coverage and complaints about music being too loud or not loud enough just three seats away from each other. Our Church leadership realized it was time to make it better and gave me the go ahead to find our new PA.”
Determined to find the best sound system for the Church’s needs, Pierce got in touch with MGA to discuss how they could best solve the buildings’ challenging acoustical issues. MGA was contracted by the church for a multi-phase implementation, with acoustic treatments being part of Phase 1 and the loudspeaker portion falling into Phase 2. MGA was directed by Pierce to design a “stereo” loudspeaker system. Given the very wide and shallow seating area that wrapped partially around the stage, this was a challenging proposition.
“We prepared multiple loudspeaker design options, looking at multiple brands and array schemes with a range of cost tiers for the church’s consideration,” says Michael Garrison of MGA. “One of the exercises we went through was to compare the percentage of seats where a person could actually perceive realistic spatial imaging – knowing that some of the outside and wraparound seats would unavoidably have a monaural listening experience. The sound level computer modelling confirmed that EAW’s ADAPTive technology achieved the widest and most even coverage, as well as the highest percentage of seats to enjoy ‘stereo’ sound.
“With our new EAW Anna ADAPTive system, no matter where you’re sitting, you’re getting the same volume and the same mix,” finishes Pierce. “I’d really like to acknowledge Jonas Domkus at EAW who did an incredible job tuning our system.”
