GULFPORT, MS – In the 20 years since St. James’ Catholic church’s original audio system was installed, the style of worship has evolved substantially. Looking for an upgrade to their sound equipment, St. James’ moved forward with San Antonio Sound & Lighting company to install 20 Tannoy VX 8 loudspeakers and Lab.gruppen amplifiers in their church.
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San Antonio Sound & Light installed a distributed system that consists of twenty Tannoy VX 8 loudspeakers
Tannoy And Lab.gruppen Unify Ministries At St. James Catholic Church
GULFPORT, MS – In the 20 years since St. James’ original audio system was installed the style of worship at the Catholic church in Gulfport, Mississippi, has evolved substantially. Looking for an upgrade to their sound equipment, St. James’ moved forward with San Antonio Sound & Lighting company to install twenty Tannoy VX 8 loudspeakers and Lab gruppen amplifiers in their church.
“There’s a little bit of everything; traditional masses, masses accompanied by choir and organ and contemporary services with a full praise band,” says parishioner, sound engineer and praise band member, Derek Fountain.
However, until the March 2013 installation of an audio system featuring Tannoy loudspeakers and Lab.gruppen amplifiers, St. James’ audio infrastructure functioned as two systems – one for speech, one for music.
“There was an Altec Lansing mixer, a four-channel power amp, a cluster of 16 and 8 ohm horns and a sub,” says Rain Jaudon of Audio Video Install Service (AVIS), who was designer/installer on the project. “They were used primarily for speech, but many of the drivers weren’t functioning.”
Two additional loudspeakers were added for the praise band, but the system was out of date and visually cluttered the church.
“Essentially, St. James wanted a single system for reinforcement of speech, and live and recorded music, that didn’t visually overpower the room.”
To meet that requirement, AVIS worked closely with Griffith Sales rep. Richard Hembree, and provided two Tannoy VLS 30 passive column arrays, two VSX 8.2BP subs, one DVS 4 as a side fill for the sanctuary, and two Lab E Series 12.2 amplifiers.
Additional elements include Audix microphones, Biamp Nexia DSP, a PreSonus digital sub mixer for the praise band and pre-existing monitors.
Additionally, Tannoy CVS 4 Micro in-ceiling loudspeakers were deployed in the cry room, where ceiling cavity space was at a premium.
“Tannoy loudspeakers sound incredible and I’ve used several models ofCVS in-ceiling speakers, so when it came to the cry room it was a no-brainer,” Jaudon adds.
Featuring Tannoy’s FAST (Focused Asymmetrical Shaping Technology) and an extremely compact footprint, the VLS 30s were an ideal fit sonically and aesthetically, says Hembree, who recommended the VLS 30s based on their tight pattern control and the fact the VLS Series offer advantages similar to Tannoy’s QFlex arrays at a price point that suited St. James’ budget.
“The VLS 30’s well defined pattern control actually allowed us to mount them upstage from the pulpit microphone, to the left and right of the altar, where they practically disappear into the sanctuary’s architecture.”
Paired with the compact and powerful VSX 8.2BPs, the result is a powerful, architecturally friendly system equally suited to music and speech. Additionally, the Lab.gruppen E12:2 amplifier’s auto shut down feature and highly efficient power management fit the church’s ongoing efforts to conserve energy.
After modeling the system in Ease Focus 2, Jaudon and Hembree demoed the VLS on site using Tannoy’s proprietary mounting hardware and the VLS’ FAST design to achieve optimal coverage and gain before feedback in the sanctuary.
“I set up a pink noise generator inside the system DSP and took readings using an SPL meter app on my phone,” Jaudon says. “I got 79dB at the front, 81dB by the 4th pew, then it dropped back to 79dB and stayed there right to the last pew.”
In the end, says Fountain; “Everyone’s had nothing but good things to say about the system. The VLS30s look good and the whole system sounds great.”
AVIS is the install division of Gulfport, Mississippi’s Magnolia Music Center and provides A/V and lighting design and install services for a variety of commercial projects and house of worship applications in the Gulf Coast region.
