UK - When Vine Christian Centre in Bridgend decided to upgrade the audio system in their main venue, they turned to local integrator Spartan AV, who installed a high-quality solution in conjunction with technical distributor, CUK Audio.
The previous audio system had been in use for over 20 years, with recent temporary repairs made to prolong its life. Fundamentally, though, the system did not provide adequate coverage in a venue three times as wide as it is deep. Stand-mounted speakers had been added to improve coverage, at the expense of blocking site lines.
Sean Hales, Spartan AV operations director, reports: “The client was initially fairly set on a flown line-array system; however, after my initial site visit, I deemed that a correctly designed point-source system was the right way to tackle this project. Another consideration was loading on structural points in the roof, making a careful design necessary.”
With an accurate floor plan and other details garnered from this site survey, distributor CUK Audio was tasked with providing design assistance.
The church required a system capable of full-range musical performance at moderate SPL levels with an emphasis on high-quality audio. Vine CC’s silent stage, with DI’d instruments, an electronic drum kit, and use of in-ear monitors, eliminates audio spill from the stage but, as a consequence, places the entire burden of audio reproduction on the main PA system. The design approach taken was therefore similar to that of a live performance venue, optimised for a modern worship band and speech intelligibility.
Using Open Array, a proprietary simulation software from Outline, CUK Audio designed a loudspeaker system in a virtual room modelled in 3D, providing a fast and accurate representation of the system's direct sound output. With the system designed, discussed, and tweaked, a short on-site demonstration followed during which the client confirmed their acceptance of the solution.
CUK Audio’s James Lawford comments, “Having a 3D simulation was key to proving that, between Spartan AV and CUK Audio, we had provided a carefully considered and thoughtfully proposed solution, and ultimately it was a very simple listening demo that convinced all listeners of the quality and performance on offer from Outline.”
The new system comprises four Outline Vegas 10 loudspeakers, carefully spaced and aimed to achieve extremely consistent coverage across the full width of the venue, at all frequency ranges. A single Vegas 6.5 provides centre-fill coverage for the first half of the audience. Two SUB 118 sub-bass loudspeakers ensure a full-range audio response and sufficient headroom to allow for any use case.
The light weight of Vegas series speakers allowed mounting using existing rigging points and bar, allaying initial structural concerns.
Two Powersoft amplifiers, a Quattrocanali 4804 DSP and a Quattrocanali 2404 DSP, provide all the power and loudspeaker processing necessary for optimal system performance, with control over every speaker, and power sharing between channels.
Spartan AV also supplied an Allen & Heath mixing solution, and, from CUK Group company Tukans, an Angekis Saber Plus full-HD PTZ camera to improve live-streamed video quality. MIPRO MI-58 digital IEM systems, from CUK Audio, have been added since the initial installation to improve the quality of musician and singer monitoring.
Spartan AV also provided a lighting upgrade and tidied up other aspects of existing infrastructure.
