While building a sanctuary from the ground up, Florida’s Perdido Bay United Methodist Church placed coverage and intelligibility from its sound system as top priorities.
The church’s highly experienced audio-visual engineer, Kenny Stewart, managed the project, and after consulting with Brian Smith, VP at Pro Sound & Video, based in nearby Pensacola, his search led him to Martin Audio.
‘While narrowing down my list of equipment needs, Pro Sound installed a Martin WPM array at First Baptist Church Pascagoula and my brother Kris Stewart [also at Pro Sound] mentioned how well that system performed,’ he explains. ‘I was onboard after hearing that feedback. I needed the whole system flown, adjustable patterns, a reliable manufacturer’s input and assistance, and an overall clear musical system.’
His decision came down in favour of Martin Audio’s recently introduced Torus constant curvature array, designed to fill the gap between a full-size line array and a point-source solution. Kenny Stewart and brother Kris then set about the installation process.
The new space is a standard rectangle with a centre aisle separating left and right seating sections, and the stage approximately 75ft distant from the rearmost seats. Defining the project criteria, Kenny Stewart says: ‘Going into this new sanctuary, I wanted to use quality equipment in all aspects of the A/V system. I specifically needed a loudspeaker system that delivered precise coverage, while limited floor space meant I needed to fly the subs.’
He designed left/right array hangs, each comprising a pair of SXCF118 subwoofers – three Torus T1215 elements with a single Torus T1230 at the base, meeting the requirement for adjustable pattern control.
Designed for applications that typically require a throw between 15-30m, T1215 offers a narrow vertical pattern of 15° with a flexible horizontal pattern that can be manually adjusted between 90°, 60° and 75°, while the T1230 offers similar attributes, but with a vertical pattern of 30°.
‘Having not heard these subs in the air I worried about having enough output. But I am shocked at how clean and loud the low end is from just four flown SXCF118,’ Stewart says.
The system is powered by three Martin Audio iKon iK42 four-channel amplifiers, with all loudspeaker processing taking place within the amplifiers. This rig delivers more than sufficient SPL to cater for the two Sunday services – one a traditional service with choir, grand piano and soloist, and the other more contemporary, with a full worship band and vocalists.
‘The Torus line really delivers and surpasses all of our needs, Stewart says. ‘There’s no treatment on the walls and I don’t foresee us needing any. Martin Audio’s Torus, coupled with the SXCF118, is powerful and exactly the speaker solution for my needs.’
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