LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY: Church of the Savior is a growing mid-size church nestled amid the bluegrass of Lexington, Kentucky. In order to support increased programming, the church raised funds to build an annex comprised of three high-tech classrooms anchored by an equally-high-tech foyer area. Kentucky-based Pro Sound & Lights designed a forward-thinking A/V system for the new space, but requests from the church’s knowledgeable liaison threw a wrench into the plans at the eleventh hour. Additional processing and amplifier channels would be needed, and Pro Sound & Lights’ systems engineer Chris Naughton accommodated the requested additions without going over budget by calling on an eight-channel Ashly ne8250.pe amplifier with optional onboard Protea(tm) DSP processing.
“All three rooms can be combined into one larger room, with all of the technology routed appropriately,” explained Naughton. “It’s functionally similar to a small conference center. Moreover, the foyer area – which will have a little coffeehouse and plenty of comfy places to hang out – can be used as a fourth classroom, so we included all of the A/V infrastructure there as well.” Naughton already had a processor and amplifier ordered when he received a call from Dave Grosz, Media engineer, for the media communications department at Asbury University and a member of Church of the Savior. “Dave knows his stuff. He’s behind one of the leading telecommunications programs in the country,” said Naughton. “He felt the new classrooms would be better served with JBL Control-series full-range loudspeakers paired with JBL Control-series subwoofers.”
At first, Naughton imagined that the easy fix would be to order a second four-channel amp to power the subwoofers, one per zone. But while he was revising the layout he realized that the processor on order had only six outputs. He needed eight outputs to do the crossovers. “That’s when I began to panic,” he laughed. “Contracts were signed, we were good to go, and now this! Money was very tight, and so I needed to find a solution that would not only work, but would work for not a lot more money than we had already committed to.”
Naughton did some research and realized that the Ashly ne8250.pe was the cost-effective solution that the project now cried out for. Within its two-rack unit frame, it offers eight 250-watt amplifier channels plus an on-board Protea digital matrix mixer & processor. He could keep the original processor, which was inextricably linked to the Extron control system to which the church had already agreed. Only four of its outputs, one per zone, would feed the Ashly ne8250.pe, which would supply the necessary crossover processing, along with modest delay and equalization. “No other manufacturer has a quality solution that is as affordable as the Ashly ne8250.pe,” said Naughton. “Despite the inclusion of the processing power, the ne8250.pe was still less expensive than two of the original four-channel amplifiers, which had no processing at all. In addition, Ashly’s shipping time was phenomenal. I received the unit two or three days after I ordered it. That gave me enough time to have the two original amplifiers rerouted back to the manufacturer!”
ABOUT ASHLY AUDIO Ashly Audio Inc. is recognized as a world leader in the design and manufacturing of high quality & high performance signal processing equipment and power amplification for use in the commercial sound contracting and professional audio markets. The 37-year old company is headquartered in Webster, New York U.S.A. www.ashly.com
