QSC plays part in citywestchurch’s 10-year plan
Published: WORSHIP
NEW ZEALAND: A QSC sound reinforcement system was recently installed into the 1,000-capacity citywestchurch in New Zealand. A 10-year plan was formed in 2006 that called for an entire upgrade to the auditorium. Key to this plan was that the church would one day be able to host a variety of multimedia events ranging from regular Sunday services to community group or youth events.
Helping outline and develop the 10-year upgrade plan was Daniel Evans of TSH Audio and Video — a company that has worked with the venue for many years assisting with conferences and special events. The brief was to install a new FOH speaker system that could provide even, full-range sound coverage throughout the main auditorium.
Good clarity of speech was a priority, but the system also had to be capable of reproducing pre-recorded and live music performances from a full band, including vocalists and a miked acoustic drum kit. A flown system was the church’s preference due to performance and coverage reasons, and also addressed any sight lines concerns.
‘The venue has many sound challenges,’ said Chris Hobby, music and creative arts pastor for citywestchurch. ‘It is a large 675-seat Lockwood auditorium with a sloping floor and open ceiling space with wooden beams and walls.’
Mr Evans contacted Now Sound for design support, and after consultation with the client, a left-right array system was modelled, comprised of three mid/high boxes flown each side and one subwoofer per side.
‘After tests, it became apparent that the QSC system was better suited for this type of application, and had the advantage of costing a bit less as well,’ Mr Evans explained. In the final system, six QSC KLA12 units with array frames were used for the mid-range/high-frequency boxes, and two KL181s were used as the subwoofers.
‘Chris and Steve quickly noticed the more even coverage that the QSC boxes gave us throughout the room, particularly in the high frequencies,’ he continued. ‘And this was straight out of the box, with no system tuning and equalisation to the room, only the basic manufacturer’s setup.’
‘We found the QSC KLA array produced the best tonal accuracy and spread, and tones were not harsh at high volume,’ enthused Steve Batten, senior pastor at citywestchurch. ‘We found the QSC KLA array was the superior system,’ Mr Hobby concurred. ‘Its spread and clarity surpassed our expectations and was by far the best speaker arrangement of the ones we trialled.’