"When we first met, Bayside Chapel was renting a local high school auditorium, but were in the initial planning stages for their own church," said Young, a well-known figure in electroacoustic design for churches. "Around the time, I had listened to several new loudspeakers designed by Tom Danley and was impressed with the pattern control, the phase response and their very natural sound quality. I've kept tabs on his designs ever since."
Bayside Chapel is an independent, non-denominational Bible teaching church whose primary need for sound reinforcement was for the Sunday morning praise and worship service. The programmes consisted of spoken word as well as a band playing live, contemporary Christian music onstage. From an acoustical standpoint, the new worship centre would prove to be a challenging environment. The multipurpose gymnatorium accommodated several groups throughout the week in addition to the Sunday worshipers. "The room itself is used for worship on the weekend, but it is also used for basketball games, as well as other athletic and non-athletic events on weekdays," said Young. "The peripheral classrooms are used for Bible study and other meeting purposes."
The worship centre/multipurpose room measures 100 feet wide x 70 feet deep x 30 feet high. The reverberant steel framed structure features highly reflective wall, which Young identified during the design phase as in need of acoustic treatment.
Young's electroacoustic design is based on a mono system split into three clusters flown over the stage. He added: "This exploded configuration was chosen to minimise lobing that occurs with any loudspeaker product when you group so many boxes into a single, more tightly packed cluster. The specific Danley loudspeakers were selected and positioned to provide sound coverage to the floor without projecting onto and reflecting off the cinder block walls."
The cluster hung at centre stage features two Danley Sound Labs SH-50 full-range loudspeakers with 50 x 50 Synergy Horn configurations and 2 x 2 installation hardware. The SH-50 is suitable for applications with high SPL and low distortion sound reproduction such as Bayside Chapel. The outer two clusters feature one SH-50 in each, coupled with one Danley Sound Labs TH-112 tapped-horn subwoofer mounted above. The TH-112's compact design allowed for the subs to be flown rather than stacked. Mounted underneath each of the three clusters is one Danley Sound Labs SH-50DF full-range downfill loudspeaker with 100 x 50 Synergy Horn configuration and 2 x 2 installation hardware.
The rigging system was fabricated and supplied by Mike Akrep at Polar Focus, who was also hired to conduct the actual cluster rigging on site. Loudspeaker system signal processing is handled by a Biamp AudiaFlex processing platform. To insure against any power surges or spikes, the sound system uses a SurgeX sequential power and surge protection system.
Young says: "The opening service at Bayside Chapel went flawlessly. I received a largenumber of very positive reviews following this service. Many said it was the best church sound they have ever heard. In addition, the band and sound crew are continually raving about their new system."
(Chris Henry)
