Danley drives audio at Newport News church
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When local production and integration firm Sound Ideas provided a Danley rig for an outdoor Covid-19 service, Pastor Mario and the rest of the congregation saw new possibilities for clarity and impact. After a successful indoor demo, the church now has its own high-impact Danley system composed of SM80F full range loudspeakers FLX12 monitors, and a DNA 20k4 Pro amplifier.
Los Pentecostales de Newport started out years ago with an MI-grade sound reinforcement system and upgraded significantly three years ago with the help of Sound Ideas (design and installation) and Winter Sound (the actual sale of the equipment). Sound Ideas owner Paul Popadak continued his involvement with the church maintaining the new system. Thus, when Pastor Mario heard that Popadak was helping area churches deliver outdoor services during Virginia’s Covid-19 lockdown, he asked him to help at Los Pentecostales.
“Los Pentecostales de Newport News has a congregation of around 450,” Popadak explained. “They like their services loud with lots of bass. I had to explain to Pastor Mario that my stereo pair of Danley SM80 loudspeakers and four TH118 subwoofers were really about one-quarter of the system they had in their sanctuary – and we would be outdoors. I said, ‘maybe expect a little less’. But it turned out to be a lot more. Everyone was stunned at the coverage, the clarity, and the volume. Pastor Mario was immediately interested in the possibility of upgrading to a Danley system indoors.”
Popadak worked with Jay Andrews, Danley eastern regional sales manager, to model the room and to arrange a demo of the system he would eventually install: two Danley SM80Fs and two Danley TH118 subwoofers powered by a four-channel Danley DNA 20k4 Pro amplifier with integrated DSP and model-specific presets
“The Danley demo blew away their entire rig, which was way bigger and, again, no slouch,” Popadak said. “The Danleys kept sound off the parallel surfaces of the sanctuary (a former bowling alley) and its phase-coherent, point-source performance was significantly more articulate than their previous system.”
To provide clarity on stage, Popadak added a pair of Danley FLX12 loudspeakers as monitors and powered them with existing amplifiers from the previous system. “Our old system was really good, and we’re still using two of its subwoofers to supplement the Danley system,” Pastor Mario said. “But the Danley system is way better.”
