A recent expansion of the Simpsonville campus of South Carolina’s Hope Church provided the opportunity to upgrade its audio system, with an Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system providing the desired blend of power and clarity.
Created in 2015 by the merger of two churches, the recent project has seen the depth of single-storey Simpsonville room increase, and gallery seating added at the rear, providing a total of 700 seats. With services ranging from high-energy music to spoken sermons, previous audio system was unable to adequately cover the enlarged space with high quality sound, so the church contacted AVL Solutions (AVLS), based in nearby Greenville, for help.
‘A challenge for the sound design was the pitched roof, which ranges from 15ft (4.5m) at the sides to more than 18ft (5.5m) in the centre,’ says AVLS designer and Director of Sales, Chris Craine. ‘We discussed the benefits of Alcons’ pro-ribbon audio technology with the client and, having worked with them before, they were happy to trust our recommendation.’
AVLS installed an Alcons pro-ribbon system comprising LCR arrays of two single 12-inch RR12 point-source array modules at each side and four in the centre, to provide the congregation with a full stereo image. Three horizontally-mounted VR12 mid-size 12-inch versatile monitors were suspended from the building’s main overhead beam to cover the new gallery seating, with three SR9 double 5-inch monitor for altar lip fill.
The church’s existing subwoofers were tied into the Alcons system, with Sentinel10 (4 x 2.5kW) and Sentinel3 (4 x 750W) amplified loudspeaker controllers installed for power and system management.
‘This was the first time we had installed RR12s and the deployment was extremely easy. We simulated the system through EASE and it performed exactly as expected,’ Craine reports.
‘We considered both distributed and line array approaches,’ adds church Technical Advisor, Trey Moran. ‘The hybrid approach suggested by AVLS, working with our existing subs, turned out to be a winning combination. And there is no shortage of power from the Sentinel amplified loudspeaker controllers.
‘We are very happy with the result – our front of house engineer is covered by the main array to feel connected with the room, while just one row behind is evenly covered by the VR12 delays. The control is amazing and the intelligibility of the pro-ribbon is just what we needed. We are excited to consider Alcons and AVLS as the preferred choice for our future campus locations.
More: www.alconsaudio.com
