Cross Church, Springdale, Arkansas has included a state-of-the-art sound system featuring Bose Professional ShowMatch loudspeakers at the main campus in Springdale.
The fan-shaped auditorium seats 2,400, with 750 seats in an expansive balcony, 300 seats in each of the room’s dramatic side “spillways” that flow down from the balcony height to the floor, and five sections of seating on the floor.
The church’s old audio system was a left-centre-right monaural configuration installed at the last room remodelling in 2002. Even with significant DSP treatment, the old system still left some seats in the sanctuary with less than optimal sound.
Leo McGriff, director of technical services for Cross Church explained: “To move us forward, a great sounding system that would provide uniform coverage was what we were looking for.”
Leo brought in audio experts Diversified, headquartered in Kenilworth, N.J. to assess the situation and make recommendations.
Diversified recommended that Leo audition the Bose ShowMatch system and set up a demonstration of the more compact, high-powered ShowMatch DeltaQ array speakers at Springdale. Leo added: “With just a single hang and the older Bose RoomMatch RMS218 subs, coverage was amazing.”
To maximise audio clarity and coverage in the sanctuary, the team decided on a monaural system employing four array hangs with two inner arrays of 10 ShowMatch modules being dedicated to covering floor seating and centre balcony area while two outer arrays of eight ShowMatch modules cover side seating areas and the balcony.
A combination of 36 ShowMatch array modules with 5-, 10- and 20-degree vertical dispersions was configured with 70-, 100- and 110-degree horizontal waveguides to provide the precise variations in coverage needed for the seating areas and to complement its contemporary worship services. Six Bose RoomMatch RMU206 front fill speakers were installed to localise sound to the stage for the closest seats.
Altogether 66 modules were installed, including 24 ShowMatch SMS118 high-output, single-18-inch woofers that extend the system’s response down to 29 Hz. To drive the system, 27 Bose PowerMatch PM8500N power amplifiers equipped with Toslink network cards were installed to power the system and configured with Bose ControlSpace Designer software.
Leo said: “The audio was extremely clear and present, with nothing in it that sounded distant. Being leaders in innovation for worship is oftentimes challenging, but it’s also very rewarding. The addition of the ShowMatch system for audio has certainly brought us into the 21st century.”
