NEW YORK – Calvary Baptist Church, founded in New York City in 1847 as an independent Baptist church, has been in its current location on Manhattan's West 57th Street since 1931. Over the years, the church has undergone a series of renovations, and recently upgraded its audio system with the installation of JBL VRX Series Constant Curvature, AE Series Compact and CBT loudspeakers.
Panavid, Inc., Pompton Plains, NJ, completed the rigging and speaker installation led by client relations manager Dennis Mitchell. The Calvary Baptist Church system is based around left/right arrays of five JBL VRX932LAP powered loudspeakers per side and two VRX918S 18-inch subwoofers per side. Complementing the two main arrays are two JBL AC28/95 compact loudspeakers for front fill and eight JBL AC15 ultra-compact loudspeakers placed under the balcony. There are also two JBL CBT 100LA column speakers in the choir area. Walter Loehr of Panavid did the system tuning and configuration.
"Calvary Baptist Church reached the point where they needed to have professional audio for their sermons and all their events, up to and including concerts," explained Mitchell. "The church has an exceptional choir and music ministry, led by Colin Fowler, and music is an integral part of the services.
"The system was very much designed as a collaborative effort after numerous conversations with myself, Michael Toombs and Miq Munoz of the Calvary Baptist Church, and Jim Peters of rep firm Sigmet Corporation," Mitchell noted. "Panavid recommended using JBL VRX932LAP loudspeakers with matching VRX918S subwoofers because they are some of the best sounding speakers available; we've been amazed at their sound quality."
"The new JBL system punches right through to the back of the room," said Miq Munoz, Calvary Baptist audio engineer. "I used to describe our sanctuary as ‘muddy.' Not anymore. And low frequency support from the subwoofers is powerful and tight."
"We also needed speakers that were as unobtrusive as possible, while being able to deliver the large-scale sound quality we needed, and the form factors of the VRX932LAP and VRX918S allow us to do that," Munoz added. "We used the AC28/95 and AC15 speakers where space considerations precluded the use of larger speakers. We also chose AKG HM1000 hanging microphones to mic the choir with exceptional results."
"Before the system was even tweaked, we were excited about the quality of the sound the JBL's were providing to the listening space," Mitchell continued. "After Walter Loehr used his software, mics and ears to fine-tune the system to the church sanctuary, the sound became even more outstanding. The church is very happy with their decision to install this system and I am thrilled to see their excitement."
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