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"Helping You Sound Your Best"

First Christian Church

Tuscola,  Illinois

MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM

This congregation has outgrown their over 40 year old facility and have no room to expand.  The new 20 acre campus on the south edge of town begins with a very well dressed multipurpose room.  Designed by Weger + Associates Architects and built by PJ Hoerr, the new facility makes excellent use of a 28,000 square foot structure.

The system was designed in the late summer of 2005 and completed in early summer of 2007.  The limited budget did not allow for adequte AV systems to be completed by a sub contractor,  so the tech team and ministry staff choose to build the systems themselves with some guidance from Jordan Audio Consultants.  (This approach does not work for everyone.)

The acoustic treatments were built in as much as possible, until the budget was spent in full.  The splaying of the side walls, fiberglass batting above the "T" grid ceiling,  and the application of 1" thick fabric covered panels on the back wall of the room have provided a manageable space that supports congregational singing.  As funds become available additional panels will be added on the side walls to complete the treatment plan and reduce a few flutter echoes.

The main cluster is assembled from separate components (we don't get to use this approach very often) and hidden behind acoustically transparent fabric above the "T" grid ceiling.  The array includes two 12", 500 watt woofers stacked in a Low Diffraction Acoustically Coupled enclosure and a pair of 90 x 40 degree biradial horns with a 2" throat, 100 watt  compression drivers.

The sub woofers are custom built systems from Concert Systems LLC of Southbend Indiana.  They were designed to provide a very deep sound while retaining a high impact level.   Gary Lavengood  designed the boxes to fit into the wall cavity on either side of the platform.  Each box is home to an 800 watt  15" woofer. 

The church had purchased three new JBL PRO floor monitors about 2 years ago.   The music team is very pleased with these units, so we simply added three more to better accommodate the larger stage and the now larger music team

The new monitoring arrangement provides for four separate monitor mixes.  The existing console was capable of this capacity,  but had not be utilized until the move.  

The existing mixing console was retained for the present time.  A few other components were reused from the congregation's system at the previous facility.  Most of these are in the control booth including wireless microphones,  an effects processor and recorder. All the wired microphones have been reused too.  One amplifier was reassigned to be used with the woofers in the array.  Even though the amplifier is over 12 years old, it keeps on "ticking" just like most Crown products.

The 24 space locking metal amplifier rack is located in the back stage space.  A deluxe  digital system processor controls the main overhead array, and the sub woofer systems.   The four stage monitor systems use two simple digital system processors.

The churches volunteer crew really stepped up to the plate and did a great job building the systems and saving the congregation about $10,000 on the total budget.

After several weeks getting used to the new space,  the ministry team is excited about what the future holds.  The sound system is performing better than expected.  The video projection system has greatly enhanced all church events.  The acoustics are still a bit too alive and energetic, but will be tamed in the future as funds become available. 

MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM

This is Geoff one of the churches media team members working in the AVL booth.

Here is the platform a few weeks after the congregation had moved into the facility.

Inside the amplifier rack

This is Phil, the youth minister.  He is a very hard and diligent worker.

The video projector is about 12' in front of the hidden speaker array.

The rear wall showing splayed walls and fabric covered acoustic treatment panels.

The stage provides a lot of flexibility for worship and special events.

A custom sub woofer up close and personal.

An other view of the AVL booth.