CCI Solutions recently completed an audio-video-lighting renovation for Broadway United Methodist Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that included a complement of Martin Audio CDD-LIVE speakers and CSX-LIVE subwoofers.
Duke DeJong, vice president of sales and integration for CCI, describes the space as “a more traditional sanctuary that exists in addition to a larger, more contemporary primary worship area nearby on the campus.”
The room seats about 300 with a fairly sloped ceiling that’s 30 feet from the peak to the floor and about 100 feet from the edge of the platform to the back of the room. It has challenges such as a wooden ceiling and lots of hard corners.
Dejong said, “They needed a sound system for speech and a traditional style of music that includes choir and acoustic instruments such as a grand piano, acoustic guitars, a harp and small orchestra. However, the room was designed to meet several needs because they also use this space for different youth and weekday activities with more contemporary worship music, which explains why we went heavier on the subwoofers.”
Mike Sessler, project lead for CCI Solutions, explains, “The sound system consists of three pairs of CDD-LIVE 8’s mounted on the ceiling, a pair downstage, a delay pair about halfway back and a pair out in the foyer to match the experience when there’s overflow. There’s a CSX-LIVE 118 sub mounted in the center downstage and another CSX-LIVE 118 midway back for delay because the room is pretty long and the modeling indicated that it made more sense than going heavier in front and pushing the sound to the back of the room. There’s a single CDD-LIVE 8 for choir fill that’s hung downstage in front the projector.”
Asked about the video and lighting renovation, he reports, “Everything had to be brighter because there’s so much natural light in the room. The lighting system is now a Chauvet LED system and the video includes a Hitachi laser projector in front and a Hitachi LCD projector in the rear with a DA-LITE 65” x 116” motorized screen. As it turns out, we’re really happy with the way the Martin Audio system sounds, which is not surprising. It provides uniform coverage throughout the space. The differential dispersion technology––covering wide up front and narrowing out towards the back––is really a huge benefit for our design.”
Broadway United’s Production Pastor Louis Tagliaboschi said, “The Martin Audio system sounds extraordinary. It’s like going from not having a PA to a truly high-quality PA and the whole system is user-friendly. To have such clean-sounding speakers is great for our volunteers because they can easily operate the system without too much mixing and equalization. We launched the system on an Easter Sunday with three services, full choirs, multiple speakers and soloists, and the pastors and congregants could immediately tell the difference. They were blown away. And since then, we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about how good the room sounds, not just from our church but visitors from other churches.”
Martin Audio embodies a sophisticated mix of acoustic design, research, mathematical modeling and software engineering for a wide range of products in the installation and touring sound markets, www.martin-audio.com.
