Faith Evangelical Free Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado has occupied its current 300-seat sanctuary for over a decade, but it never sounded as good as it does now, owing to the recent installation of Danley Sound Labs SH-60 loudspeakers and a Danley TH-212 subwoofer. “Finding the right loudspeakers for their blended contemporary/traditional services was a challenge because of the unique shape of the sanctuary,” said Kris Johnson, co-founder and chief operating officer of Colorado Springs-based Sight & Sound Technologies, the firm that handled the sound system renovation. “There are two huge beams separated by a twenty-five feet run from the front of the sanctuary to the back, and there’s a pretty dramatic slope down on either side of the beams. The height of the whole ceiling also changes, with the lowest height right above the stage.”
Kris continued: “I like Danley’s approach to designing loudspeakers and subwoofers, and this seemed like it would be a good application based on the pattern control, phase coherence, and fidelity we needed. I feel like I have a pretty good gut sense of what constitutes great sound, and Danley has a good scientific sense of what constitutes great sound. I understand sound on a practical level, and it’s gratifying to have it matched up by Danley’s grasp of the underlying physics. To help Faith Evangelical Free Church make an informed decision, Darby Reps (Danley’s Colorado rep firm) came in and gave them an inspiring demo.”
Kris chose from among Danley’s wide array of coverage patterns and settled on an elegantly simple stereo hang comprised of one Danley SH-60 per side. A single Danley TH-212 subwoofer sits to the side of the stage and gives Faith EFC the kind of rich, musical low end that transforms a sound reinforcement system into an all-enveloping experience. To simplify the installation and to provide fewer avenues for tampering (however well intentioned) Kris chose Danley’s optional self-powered versions for all three boxes. Owing to the brand’s proven reliability, Johnson gave Faith EFC an Ashly Protea 4.8SP 4×8 loudspeaker processor. The church’s volunteer tech staff manages the sound system via a Behringer X32-channel digital mixer paired with an S16 digital snake. A Mackie SRM350 provides on-stage monitoring.
“Because the rest of the system components were available before the SH-60s, we had a unique opportunity to hear how much of a difference the Danley loudspeakers made,” Kris said. “We updated the mixer, the processor, and the stage monitoring, and tuned things up as best I could with their old loudspeakers. The exercise was also good because it highlighted some areas we could improve just with better training of their volunteer staff: when I mixed a service on the old loudspeakers, it was a noticeable improvement over their previous services, and I was able to transfer the needed skills to their staff. But once we got the Danley loudspeakers in there… wow, it was night and day! The clarity and musicality they have now is incredible!”
