With a wide variety of ministries, programmes, activities, and worship services for people with varied interests and experiences, State Street United Methodist Church in Bristol, Virginia, recently installed a new sound reinforcement system using loudspeakers from WorxAudio, along with mixing from the company’s PreSonus StudioLive III series and PreSonus personal monitoring technology.
Design/build/consulting company JMP Productions was contracted to design and install the new system, with company owner Justin Plaster – who oversees sales, consulting, engineering, and day-to-day operations for the firm – consulting with the church management to determine their expectations. Plaster penned a system using a WorxAudio X2i-P line array, a TL118SST-P active high SPL subwoofer, with a StudioLive 32 console, StudioLive 32R rack mixer, and HP2 Headphone Monitoring Unit.
‘The Fellowship Hall at State Street United Methodist Church measures 60ft deep by 50ft wide,’ Plaster reports. ‘The room uses moveable seating that can easily be arranged for different types of events and the room’s capacity is designed to accommodate 200 people. Services are contemporary in nature and music is a vital component of their worship services. Further, the space also hosts a once-a-week Recovery service for those with addiction issues. As a result, there are two different contemporary bands that play in this space each week.’
The primary loudspeaker system is a single WorxAudio X2i-P all-in-one compact line array, which is flown over the front center of the pulpit. The X2i-P is a two-way, high efficiency, line array loudspeaker designed for the reproduction of speech and music programme material. The system incorporates two medium format 1-inch exit compression drivers coupled to a stabilized proprietary FlatWave former paired with four 8-inch cone transducers. The X2i-P has a 160° horizontal by 30° vertical coverage pattern.
Low frequency support is achieved via a single WorxAudio TL118SST-P active subwoofer. The TL118ST-P is an extreme high SPL sub bass loudspeaker system that utilizes a direct radiating 18-inch, 2kW cone driver in a tuned enclosure, which provides maximum output with minimal distortion and smooth extended low-frequency response. At State Street United Methodist Church, the TL118SST-P is positioned at stage right on the floor.
For monitoring, Plaster used a PreSonus HP2 Headphone Monitoring system. Ideal for driving both wired in-ear monitors, as well as headphones, the HP2 is used by the house drummer while a few loudspeakers that remain from the previous sound system are also used for monitoring.
‘The X2i-P’s horizontal dispersion is really quite unique,’ Plaster says. ‘Because of this wide throw, we were able to provide even coverage from one side of the room to the other as well as all the way to the rear of the space.’
At FOH, Plaster and his crew deployed a 40-input StudioLive 32 digital console, while a StudioLive 32R rack mixer is positioned at the stage and is configured for use as a stagebox. ‘The StudioLive 32’s onboard recording capability makes this mixer a tremendously versatile choice that’s equally well-suited to handle their live streaming operations,’ Plaster explains. ‘Similarly, the StudioLive 32R rack mixer’s ability to function as a stage box or a combination stage box and monitor mixer is equally appealing’
With the new PreSonus sound reinforcement system up and operational, Plaster reports the equipment is having a very positive impact.
‘The ministry cannot say enough about how good the system sounds,’ he says. ‘With the old setup, they had several dead spots in the room where you could not hear the minister. Now, everyone can hear clearly, and they’re amazed that it all comes from one centrally located loudspeaker system and one subwoofer. And the mixers are very intuitive. After roughly an hour of training from us, they’ve taken over their own training on the mixing system and have really been happy with how easy it is to operate. The combination of PreSonus loudspeaker and mixing systems, along with the HP2 headphone monitor has re-energised everyone – both on stage and in the congregation.’
