Cherry Hills church chooses L-Acoustics
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After turning to the team at Franklin, Tennessee-based Mankin Media Systems to design and supply a new system, the Christian church is now enjoying a new house loudspeaker system based on L-Acoustics Kara elements.
“It was one of the more complex projects we’ve ever been involved with,” says Mankin’s Tim Corder “The entire leadership of the church had changed since the last system was installed about eight years ago and the new team really wanted a system worthy of their reputation as a growing, dynamic congregation.”
That was no easy feat. Corder described the room and the previous install as “the most polarizing audio experience I’ve ever had,” he says. “Cherry Hills had reached the point where the leadership felt that their worship experience was being compromised by the quality of the audio, which is a tough place to be for a church that is so outreach-focused, and the stakes were high.
“You know how people will talk about the hardest room they have ever worked in? Well, it’s no exaggeration to say that everyone who came in said some variation of that. The audio quality didn’t just change in different parts of the room; it would change drastically from seat to seat. You could stand in front of one seat and it sounded like there was a blanket over the speakers, then move over just one seat and it was icepick piercing.”
In addition to providing consistent sound quality and volume in all parts of the room, the new system would have to be rider-friendly and concert-ready. “As Cherry Hills has grown, they are doing an increasing number of concerts by popular Christian artists and the goal was to have a system installed that would allow these artists and their crews to leave whatever speakers they were touring with on the truck and confidently use the house system for all shows,” Corder adds.
They found the answer to both of those needs in the form of an extensive install of L-Acoustics Kara - 30 enclosures total - supplemented by nine SB18i and eight KS28 subs, a trio of ARCS Wide enclosures, plus 18 X8 and 13 X12 coaxial elements used for fills and stage wedges.
“Cherry Hills officially goes on record as the first house of worship to install our new KS28 subs,” notes L-Acoustics’ regional sales manager BJ Shaver. “However, the church initially ran into a budget issue because the stage build-out for the sub bunkers was going to cost too much. So they opted to fly the KS28s and have been amazed with their performance. A common misconception with churches is that you have to have subs on the ground to get ‘impact,’ which simply isn’t true.”
A pair of L-Acoustics LA12X amplified controllers power and process the cardioid-configured KS28 sub hangs, while 18 LA4X - chosen for their four-channel design, resolution in the main arrays, and AVB-ready operation - drive the rest of the system.
(Jim Evans)
