Grove City solves intelligibility issues
Published: WORSHIP
WORLD: Grove City Church of the Nazarene’s 2,800-seat sanctuary has long struggled with sonic issues, including poor intelligibility and uneven coverage. To solve these long-standing problems the church turned to Renkus-Heinz.
Technical director Matt Groves and front of house sound engineer Doug McLaughlin undertook the job of researching possible solutions. ‘We looked at several major loudspeaker brands and invited several in to do demos for us,’ recalled Mr Groves. ‘They all sounded fine, but the Renkus-Heinz IC2 really stood out. They demonstrated the beam steering by putting us up in the balcony with the IC2 cabinet on stage. We could hear it just fine. Then he opens his laptop and says, “Watch this,” and steers the speaker digitally so it’s hitting us directly upstairs. All of a sudden, boom, there it was, with unbelievable clarity. I looked at my front of house engineer and we both said, “That's the one.” It was the coolest thing.’
The system, installed by Tech Art Production of Columbus, comprises a left-centre-right, dead-hung configuration, with three IC2-FR modules in the centre flanked by five more on either side. To deliver the bass needed for the church’s contemporary presentation, the arrays are supplemented by six DR18-2R powered subwoofers, hung in two groups of three between the main IC2 arrays.
‘The music sounds amazing, and the spoken word is crystal clear in every seat, even under the balcony,’ said Mr Groves. ‘The IC2’s digital steering enabled us to aim a beam down to hit the front rows and another to cover beneath the balcony. And we have totally eliminated the slap-back echo from sound bouncing off the balcony facing.’
The technical director also appreciates how the system covers the church’s wide sanctuary. ‘Having 120-degree dispersion lets us cover the full width of the room, even the side wings, with just the three L-C-R arrays,’ noted Mr Groves. ‘To do this room with standard line arrays would take two groups of nine or 10 boxes in a curved hang, plus extra speakers to cover the dead spots. Our biggest arrays are only five cabinets tall, and we have clean sightlines from every seat. There are no front fills, no side fills, and no speakers under the balcony.’
The church hosts both traditional and contemporary Sunday services with a short turn-around time between. ‘The contemporary service is a pretty high octane and edgier presentation that includes a rhythm section, six vocalists, a whole lot of bass, and is very guitar driven,’ said Mr Groves. ‘The traditional service needs less bass reinforcement, which we have set up in the Rhaon software as a preset. Both sound fantastic from every seat in the house.
‘From the first service onward, we’ve gotten nothing but compliments on the system,’ concluded Mr Groves. ‘The senior pastor is immensely pleased with it. It’s easy to differentiate everything in the mix, the sermon is perfectly clear, and we have plenty of power to get that rock concert feel when we need it. We couldn't be more pleased with the system.’