MELBOURNE, FL — Calvary Chapel of Melbourne, a contemporary church with a 3,000-seat main sanctuary, got the opportunity for a new sound system when its existing system was transferred to a smaller satellite campus in Viera, Fla.
“Ever since we re-hung our previous system in Melbourne to try and provide line array coverage to the balcony level two years ago, we knew we needed an upgrade,” said Greg Branch, senior audio engineer for the church. “So, after transferring the existing system to the new campus, we had the perfect opportunity to explore new options for the main sanctuary.”
Calvary Chapel brought in Craig Beyrooti, president of Atlantic Pro Audio of Altamonte Springs, Fla., to consult on the design and integration. After considerable research, including a number of demos and shootouts, Branch and Beyrooti decided on the Turbosound Flex array.
“We looked seriously at several other brands, but once we brought an array into the church and listened to it next to our system, it was an easy decision,” Branch said. “Between Craig, my assistant Seth Wren and myself, there was total agreement on going with Turbosound.”
The ability to fill the entire 180-degree setting area with two primary 8-box line arrays and a pair of 4-speaker outriggers of Turbosound Flex TFA-600H three-way speakers was a key selling point. It would be able to provide full coverage without the use of auxiliary systems.
“Where most line arrays are 90 degrees or more in horizontal dispersion, the Turbo Flex is just 75 degrees wide,” Branch said. “That meant we could point them straight out as a stereo pair without any pan, evenly covering all the room with the same sound signature and excellent stereo imaging.”
Another bonus was that the hang position had unobstructed line of sight to the seats beneath the balcony. With the reach of the TFA-600H’s coaxial 6.5-inch mid, 1-inch HF driver and dual 10-inch lows, there was no need to use auxiliary speakers either above or beneath the balcony.
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Hung at a 50-degree angle to the side, the two 4-box outrigger arrays provide the same sound signature to the nearfield seats on the sides of the room, delivering the summed left/right mix in mono.
“The way we were able to rig it, we didn’t have to stagger the hangs for the outside fill,” Branch said. “Previously, the outriggers were in a different location and used electronics to make it work. But with Turbosound, we were able to achieve the same thing acoustically, which is far superior to a solution that relies on electronics to correct things.”
A total of four frontfill speakers complete the system. The two center-front fills are low-profile TCS-61 models that reside in front of floor wedges at the lip of the stage. On each side, a larger NuQ-10 is housed along with the subwoofers under a seamless stage extension. Within those housings, a total of 12 TFA-600LDP subwoofers complete the soundscape.
“We needed the larger NuQ-10s on the sides to make sure the mids and highs were clear for those first few rows,” said Branch. “That gives them a balanced sound even with the subs being so close.”
Turbosound USA sales manager Brad Stephens traveled to Melbourne and worked with Beyrooti and Branch to apply the final tweaks and tuning to the system, staying for the first worship service to ensure that everything was a complete success.
“It was a pleasure working with professionals like Craig and Greg,” said Stephens. “The installation was performed at the highest level, and with someone of Greg’s caliber behind the console, we’re really excited about how impressive the system sounds.”
The speakers are powered by six Lab.gruppen PLM 10000Q 4-channel amplifiers with built-in Lake processing. Turbosound headquarters in the UK provided processor settings based on EASE plots, which Atlantic Pro Audio implemented on site.
In the eight-box main arrays, the top two speakers are amplified together for the balcony, with two groups of three covering the main floor from front to back. Hung by Entertainment Installation Services, all four arrays utilize custom multi-pin connectors and cabling.
“That was a big part of our success,” Beyrooti said. “The job demanded a precise hang, and our riggers worked around some positioning challenges to get everything within 1/16th of an inch of the marks.”
Asked to summarize his experience, Beyrooti said, “Our challenge was to meet the church’s budget needs without sacrificing the audio performance we all wanted. Fortunately, the people at Calvary Chapel understand audio. For instance, when we told them that the way to reduce the number of subwoofers was to house them on the deck instead of flying them, they were flexible enough to change. We worked together as a team, and our focus was always on solutions. And when you hear the system, you can easily tell: there was no compromise on quality.”
Branch agreed. “The Turbosound system helped us achieve all our goals,” he notes. “We have the same, consistent sound signature throughout the room, whether I’m running at 96 dB on Sunday morning or 105 dB at the end of one of our worship nights. The Flex array has really exceeded my hopes and expectations, both in terms of clarity and musicality. We couldn’t be happier.”
For more information, please visit www.calvaryccm.com, www.atlanticproaudio.com and www.turbosoundusa.com.
