LA CRESCENTA, CA – The music program at La Crescenta Presbyterian Church has, like many churches, moved from the traditional piano/organ and choir-based music to a vocal group with the support of an instrumental ensemble or praise band. The church recently upgraded its loudspeaker setup with a TrueLine line array system from WorxAudio Technologies.
Church member Dan Blessinger, President of La Crescenta, CA-based dB Mix, Inc., is a music producer for video games, TV, film, and records. Recognizing the shortcomings of the church's prior sound system, he served as one of two consultants on the upgrade project and partnered with Kevin Hughes of Dallas, TX-based Design Technik, an audio, video, and lighting design consultancy, in an effort to rectify the situation.
After reviewing their options, Blessinger and Hughes selected a seven-element WorxAudio TrueLine X1i installation line array system.
"Music is a significant part of our services," Blessinger noted. "The prior sound system always suffered from spotty coverage, ineffective music reproduction, and less than ideal speech intelligibility. These issues became even more pronounced when we started with the more contemporary worship programs.
"Previously, we had two loudspeakers at the front of the sanctuary and these simply weren't adequate for the size of the room, which is roughly 125 feet in length, 60 feet wide, with seating capacity for 200-300 people," Blessinger added. "Recognizing the advantages of line array technology, Kevin [Hughes] designed the system and I oversaw its installation. The new system is centrally positioned over the stage / altar area-flown at a height of roughly 35 feet."
The WorxAudio TrueLine X1i installation line array is a two-way, high efficiency line array loudspeaker that incorporates a medium format, 1-inch exit compression driver with dual 8-inch cone transducers into an ultra compact high performance enclosure that is ideal for the reproduction of speech and music program material.
The church's seven-element system and the proprietary subwoofers are powered by Lab.gruppen fp 2200 amplifiers. The line array system's integrated, custom designed flyware enables the user to easily array the system to the precise desired coverage area – which Blessinger saw as a key system attribute.
"I was very impressed with the flyware," Blessinger said. "The ability to make fine adjustments to the system is quite impressive and, being that the individual enclosures are very directional, a small change in the pin settings can dramatically impact the coverage. Kevin specified all the pin positions and his settings worked out incredibly well."
Blessinger installed La Crescenta Presbyterian Church's new sound reinforcement system during the early part of May, and it was placed into service later that month. In the months since, it has been very well received.
"Everyone is very complimentary of the system," Blessinger said. "We now have uniform coverage throughout the space and the loudspeakers don't disturb the line of sight to the front of the hall. Given the surprisingly compact nature of this system, speech intelligibility is excellent and its music reproduction capabilities are very impressive. The system's coverage is solid all the way to the back row and the balcony of the sanctuary."
"I couldn't be happier with the system," he continued, "and I feel as though Kevin Hughes did a fantastic job of specifying the system with the right number of enclosures for the room. As a mix engineer who typically works in a very controlled environment, I was very impressed with the sound quality and coverage of this system."
For more information, please visit www.worxaudio.com, www.dbmix.com and www.designtechnik.com.
