COLUMBIA, MD – St. John Baptist Church (SJBC) in recently completed construction of a new sanctuary on 40 acres that are just over a mile from SJBC's previous location. Baltimore's HP Electronics, with oversight from Joe Schwartz, installed a sound system designed by Neil Shade of Acoustical Design Collaborative, which uses Danley loudspeakers.
Shade uses four Danley SH-50 full-range loudspeakers to evenly blanket the fan-shaped room without appreciably exciting the walls or ceiling. The speakers are configured in an exploded cluster of four separate hangs. Room treatments, including wall and ceiling panels, helped tone down the sonic effect of the drywall that formed the basic structure of the walls, but its low-frequency effects were minimal. Because the two outside hangs were to be adjacent to the sidewalls, low-frequency pattern control was critical.
The original design had specified a different loudspeaker manufacturer, but Schwartz and his coworkers pushed for the Danley loudspeakers instead.
"We used these speakers in a local church expo for a gospel performance and they sounded fantastic," said Schwartz. "So we knew that from a purely sonic standpoint, they were an excellent choice. But we also knew that Danley loudspeakers have a reputation for tight pattern control, even down to low frequencies where other manufacturers are effectively omni-directional. SJBC seemed like an excellent venue to put that claim to the test."
The HP Electronics crew noted that the installation of the Danley SH-50s was not difficult. Each speaker uses a three-point hang. The SH-50s were used to provide the long throw. "There was nothing to it," said Schwartz. "It was definitely one of the easier installations we've had."
A rack of Lab.gruppen C-series amplifiers power the loudspeakers and three low-profile subwoofers hidden beneath the stage. A Biamp Nexia processor conditions the system. "The Danley SH-50s needed very little adjusting," said Schwartz. "We have a handful of filters on each one, but they are modest and subtle. Importantly, the hype about Danley's pattern control is all true. The drop-off at the wall is impressive, and the pattern from each speaker mates seamlessly with its neighbor's. Coverage throughout the sanctuary is smooth and uninterrupted."
Tight timelines led the church to retain its beloved Mackie CR-1604. "In fact, they got a MixerMixer and another CR-1604," said Schwartz. "They didn't want to have to train on something else just as everything else was going live in the new facility. Moving forward, we will eventually switch them over to a Roland V-Mix system or a Yamaha M7. It sounds fantastic now, but with either of those items in place, the system will truly shine."
For more information, please visit www.danleysoundlabs.com.
