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Assisting with church's system upgrade

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Stehno

(A)

I'm more of a home audio buff and no little to nothing about pro equipment and installs. However, my church's music director has asked for my assistance with upgrading their sound system. The budget is $8k.
Minimal equipment must include:
2 main speakers
2 18" subwoofers (organ you know)
loudspeaker processor
amplifier(s)
Speaker cabling
Auditorium is approx. 125 feet deep by 80 wide with gabled ceiling peaking at about 38 feet.
Looking for simple, minimalist approach. Would like a system that is transparent, detailed, yet not overly bright, nor too warm. How about neutral? Amp is important as there are many amps that do more than just amplify and would like to stay away from those.
Appreciate your help.

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Re: Assisting with church's system upgrade - Blade 12:18:47 01/27/02 (0)
I'm afraid it is far more complex than just putting speakers in the room. With a 120 some foot depth, I cannot imagine one single speaker cluster having enough power handeling and/or a high enough sensitivity to give you desent coverage and SPL at all seating locations.
When you start talking multiple arrays and delay lines, you've already overcome your 8K value. I'd seriously look at helping the acoustics of your room instead of simply putting more money into gear that will not actually 'help' the sound of your room....
Just my two cents....
Re: Assisting with church's system upgrade - Tony Mah 22:38:25 01/15/02 (2)
Is this system mostly for organ or speech or both?
I would suggest hiring an acoustics consultant.
What is the acoustics like int the room?
Tony
- Re: Assisting with church's system upgrade - stehno 07:03:17 01/16/02 (1)
  The system is used for everything but organ as it has it's own speakers. Hiring an acoustician (?) is certainly within our means.
  I've not spent tons of time in the auditorium, but the highly pitched ceiling provides much volume. Obviously, if the auditorium has no people in it, the room acoustics would be much more 'live' than if there were 500 people in that same room.
  On any given Sunday, the sound from the current system has never sounded bad aside perhaps from some not so good mixing on occassion. The room appears adequate considering how bad it could be.
  Thanks,
  - Re: Assisting with church's system upgrade - Tony Mah 08:26:27 01/16/02 (0)
    Hiring an LOCAL acoustics consultant is within your budget. If you want to DIY with help from the web community is it also posibble but not as good.
    Here how the budget works
    1000 for consulting
    500 for system calibration
    6500 for the equipment and installation.
    If you want me to help you with it over the web, I can
    1. model the room on the computer with EASE, and CATT, and few other programs.
    http://www.netg.se/~catt/
    http://www.renkus-heinz.com/ease_frame.htm
    2. I CANNOT make real measurements of the room, a local guy can.
    3. I CANNOT program the dsp and oversee the installation and make sure everything is done right like polarity, soldering joints, etc, where as a local guy can
    So unless you are highly technical, you risk the enjoyment of everyone who come to church to worship every week for the next 20 years.
    Tony W Mah
Re: Assisting with church's system upgrade - one50 20:41:16 01/11/02 (0)
I'm a big Mackie Fan myself. They make a nice speaker the M300i which is passive or the SM450 which is active. Their amps are good too, the 1400i would pump pleanty of power to the M300i's. I like to use Monster Cable StudioPro1000 speaker cable. It pulls easy has a thick jacket, but doesn't solder worth a darn. I crimp all my connections.
I do agree with Bill, find a contractor in your area. That way the liability is on them. If your in the Ohio area check out www.aardvarkaudio.net
Good luck
Re: Assisting with church's system upgrade - Bill Wassilak 10:20:53 01/11/02 (0)
Your'e going to need more than that to cover a room that size. First thing you should do is contact a PROFESSIONAL sound-reinforcement company. Like a regional sound co. that does festivals or things like that and take bids. But here's some suggestions to maybe get the most bang for your buck.
Main Speakers:
Community or Yorkville
Amps:
Crown Micro/Macro tech series or the K Series
QSC RMX series
Crest
Camco (europion brand)
Loudspeaker Processor:
dbx 480 drive rack
You didn't mention anything about what you have, or are going to need like floor monitors, mixer, signal processing(reverb unit),equalizers etc. etc..
Hope this helps some
Bill W.
Re: Assisting with church's system upgrade - DR_WATSON 08:23:55 01/11/02 (0)
I can definitely say that IMHO Crown amps are the best. The microtech series sound totally incredible and are very simple to operate. On top of that their very well priced. Their models are as follows:
microtech 600 $549.99 220 Watts per channel with an 8 Ohm load
microtech 1200 $699.66 310 Watts per channel with an 8 Ohm load
microtech 2400 $1199.99 520 Watts per channel with an 8 Ohm load
These are all 2 channel amps. I don't claim to be an expert but I know that these amps sound great. Hope that helps.

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