Edmonton, Alberta⎯Allstar Show Industries recently completed a design/build installation for Beulah Ministries in Edmonton on both their main and satellite campus. Dwayne Plishka, project manager, is also the technical director for the ministry. The 85–year-old church is in its third building, an auditorium that seats 1,400 with an average weekly attendance of over 2,000. A rental facility serves as its new Whitemud satellite campus serving a congregation of 100 and seating 250.
A NEXO demonstration sold church leadership on a new system for 98A, the main auditorium. Plishka recommended a NEXO GEO S8 system with six boxes per side for the main auditorium system, four NEXO CD12s and an NX242 processor. “We wanted a sound image that was as true to the source as possible, and met the physical and acoustical properties of the sanctuary, states Plishka. The difficulties were the shape of the room and restriction to load
capabilities for overhead deployment. The NEXO GEO S8 provided a passive, lightweight system that could be suspended off a single cable, at one single point instead of redesigning the structural points within the auditoriums existing façade. The install was completed in one week, due in part to the accurate prediction of the modeling and the light weight of the system. It’s amazing what we heard; the coherency is so precise. Church leadership immediately noticed a change in the sound.�
Plishka says the ministry needed a console that would obtain the results required by volunteers with a minimal learning curve. Allstar installed a Yamaha M7CL-48 digital console in the main auditorium, as well as secondary auditoriums in the 98A facility. The main campus also houses a Yamaha LS9-32 console in the Children’s Ministry where Allstar installed four Yamaha IF2108 Installation Series speakers. A LS9-16 was installed in the chapel, and the green room/rehearsal space houses a Yamaha 01V96. Yamaha LS9 consoles were also installed in the satellite location, “We wanted one operational learning curve for volunteers, and the Yamaha digital audio console family was the perfect fit. The youngest audio tech is 13 years old and can navigate the LS9 with ease.�
The congregation noticed a difference in the sound right away. “Each Sunday, there is a certain elderly woman who would pick up a hearing assist device the church provides, notes Plishka. The first Sunday the system was installed, the woman was late to services and didn’t have time to pick up the device. At the end of the service, she stopped by the front of house console and said not only was she late to service but she forgot her hearing aids as well. With a big smile she said, ‘today was the first day I heard the sermon without any assistance.’�
At the Whitemud satellite campus, in addition to the Yamaha LS9-32, Allstar installed NEXO PS15 and PS8 loudspeakers and a 4×1 NXAmp. “The Whitemud location is a rental facility that involves a flight of stairs, adds Plishka. We not only needed a system that was highly efficient, passive, and would meet the room requirements, but lightweight in order to be packed away in cases and carried up the flight of stairs each week. The PS series with a built-in processor requires minimal equalization and is an easy set up for the volunteers. The NEXO/Yamaha combination maintains continuity between both campuses, yet is easily stored between services.â€?
“There is no easy way to completely satisfy the diverse needs of any congregation, but Allstar’s approach to common operating systems, common learning curves, and the added benefit of some redundancy built into the overall system is working really well for us on the support side,� adds Worship & Arts Minister, Reverend Terry Lee. “On the delivery side, we have fewer complaints about mix and even volume issues, in part because we’re delivering outstanding fidelity every weekend. Our singers and band members are keen to serve when they’ve been in the pew the week before and hear it sounding really good. This is added encouragement to bring their best because they are being supported and reinforced so well. All in all, the new Yamaha/NEXO system has been an outstanding solution for us.�
For more information on Allstar Show Industries, visit http://www.allstar-show.com/.
For more information on Yamaha and NEXO products, visit http://www.yamahaca.com.
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Photo ID: Worship & Arts Minister, Reverend Terry Lee
About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.:
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. (YCAS) provides a full line of integrated professional audio products offering complete systems solutions for the broadcast, sound reinforcement/installed sound, touring, commercial recording, and post production markets. With the addition of NEXO to the product line, the company remains the official U.S. and Canadian distributor for all NEXO speaker models. YCAS offers comprehensive in-house and field product training for its customers, a dedicated dealer network, and 24/7 technical support.
