Church now has a touring-class P.A. system based on the successful EAW KF730 Small Line Array Module
The KF730’s superb dispersion characteristics help keep the sound loud and clear on both sides of the thrust stage
Whitinsville, MA, USA, August 19, 2009 – The Christian Life Assembly (CLA) church in Langley, British Columbia is a tech-savvy multi campus congregation that offers both media streaming and podcast downloads of its services from its website. When the church began an extensive upgrade of its facilities last year, a state-of-the-art sound system for its 1,500-seat sanctuary was high on its list of priorities, and that’s exactly what they got with equipment from EAW, a world leader in audio system technology. Three clusters made up of the EAW KF730 Compact Line Array Module, the SB730 Compact Line Array Subwoofer and the SB1000z Large
Format Subwoofer provide a touring-class P.A. system that serves all the needs of the congregation, from music to speech, with high intelligibility and full frequency response. Vancouver-based audio, video, lighting and multimedia systems design and integration firm Sapphire Sound was chosen by the church as its design/build partner on the renovation.
“This is a very contemporary, technologically-aware church, so we knew we had to bring in the most advanced sound system equipment available for it,� explains Harold Wiens, President and Head Designer of Sapphire Sound. The stage thrusts out into the sanctuary, with seating in a 180-degree arc around it. Technical Director for CLA Kurtis Witt, together with Sapphire Sound decided on three arrays in an “exploded cluster� configuration, with the KF730 enclosures loosely spaced to take full advantage of the KF730’s Phase Aligned™ LF design that extends its horizontal pattern. A center array consists of four KF730 enclosures with an SB730 designed to fly above the KF730. This array is flanked on either side by an array of six KF730 boxes topped with an SB730 subwoofer. These are buttressed by eight EAW JFX88 Compact Full-Range Loudspeakers installed as under-balcony fills and five EAW UB52 compact full-range loudspeakers for front fill, controlled by a UX8800 Digital Signal Processor with proprietary Gunness™ Focusing technology.
“The dispersion pattern of the KF730 is fantastic,� says Wiens, noting that when the room was analyzed for tuning purposes after the system was installed, every one of the 1,500 seats was within 1.0 dB of the others at any selected frequencies. “The consistency and the quality of the sound throughout the room was all you could have asked for. It’s excellent for speech intelligibility and it’s just as great for music,� which Wiens says typically exceeds 100 dB during Sunday services. To add an even bigger bottom to the sound, four SB1000z’s were installed in poured concrete bunkers underneath the front of the stage, to eliminate low-frequency vibrations to the stage. With the addition of a Digidesign Venue console at FOH, the system would be at home on any major tour. In fact, says Wiens, “Several of the top live sound mixers in the greater Vancouver area have told us it’s one of the best-sounding P.A. systems they’re ever heard. It’s really a fantastic sound.�
For more information, please visit www.eaw.com.
