The first L-Acoustics K1 loudspeaker system to be installed in a church in Southeast Asia has gone into the Evangelist Graha Bethany Nginden Church in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Canessa Christian Lawanto (music director); Yusof Ahmad (Sennheiser Asia);
Jonathan Benaya Etanto (monitor engineer); Germain Simon (L-Acoustics)
The K1/Kara WST line source system has been supplied and fitted by Sennheiser Electronic Asia, and Indonesian partner Tri Tunggal Abadi, together with equipmwnt from almost all of the L-Acoustics ranges.
The system comprises two hangs of 12 K1 WST line source boxes with six K1-SB and six SB28 subwoofers in cardioid mode. Two clusters of four Kara boxes provide stereo in fill and a further two for out fill, and four ARCS medium-format WST line source cabinets for front fill. Five hangs of two Kara boxes provide first delay under balcony, together with four hangs of two 12XTi coaxials and four hangs of eight 8XTi coaxials in white, from L-Acoustics’ Architectural Series, providing discreet integration into the church’s interior. Four hangs of three Kiva ultra compact WST line source cabinets have been installed as a delay system for the second balcony. The system is driven by 35 LA4 and LA8 amplified controllers.
In addition, three Kivas and a Kilo cover an on-stage VIP section, while four 115 XT HiQ coaxials driven by an LA8 amplified controller provide the Pastor’s main monitor system, and two 112Ps are used for both side fill and choir monitors.
‘This was a very interesting installation as it dealt with almost all of our product lines, with different purposes for each of them,’ says L-Acoustics Tech Support Engineer, Germain Simon, who tuned the system. ‘The large, architecturally complex venue restricted the location of different clusters due to its many pillars. We spent time prioritising the best location for each part of the system with the right orientation, levels and delay. Then we worked on fine-tuning the system, experimenting until we found the most appropriate contour for the type of music and preferences of the church followers. We wish to thank all the Bethany Church sound engineers for their valuable help and support.’
‘My first visit to Surabaya was really amazing,’ says Michel Brouard, L-Acoustics Sales Manager for Asia, who initially visited the Graha Bethany Nginden church in March 2010 and met with Pastor Tanuseputra. ‘It was really a privilege to visit such a unique house of worship and to be welcomed and informed about the project by Pastor Tanuseputra and music director Canessa Christian Lawanto.’
Following his visit, Germain Simon and head of installation support Cedric Montrézor carried out an acoustic simulation using L-Acoustics’ proprietary SoundVision program.
Headed by Pastor Abraham Alex Tanuseputra, Evangelist Graha Bethany Nginden Church is one of Indonesia’s largest churches, able to accommodate gatherings of 30,000 in one sitting. Tri Tunggal Abadi’s André Bonang has carried out several previous installations for the Bethany Church in Indonesia, including the Bethany Manyar.
