Set in the Canadian city of Mississauga, the Light Presbyterian Church is a Gospel-centred church serveing a multi-ethnic and multi-generational community. With a seating capacity of 2,000, its wide, fan-shaped sanctuary is far from perfect, however. The stage is not the most acoustically friendly environment, suffering from of reflections and a further acoustic energy being reflected from a second-floor glass balcony railing. This made it difficult for the congregation to hear and follow services.
To solve these challenges, the church turned Abe Son from Benabe ProSound. Having worked on various A/V upgrades for a number of years, Son knew the challenges the venue presented, and had a solution to the problem – TW AUDiO’s Vera20i.
‘We needed to design an LR rather than LCR line array system for the chapel,’ he recalls. ‘The true 120° Vera20i line array speakers were perfect for delivering even sound coverage throughout the whole space.’
The installed solution comprises LR hangs of five Vera20i-120° cabinets and three Vera20i-80° enclosures. Four Vera S32i subs flown as a central cluster provide low frequency reinforcement, while a combination of C5, T20i, C5i, C12 and C15 cabinets serve as fill in various areas. Power, with and courtesy of Powersoft amplification and processing.
With the Vera20i line arrays providing even coverage, Son turned to the reflection issues inside the sanctuary. The first space to tackle was the stage. ‘The cardioid mode of Vera S32i gave a perfect solution for the reflection issue on the stage,’ he explains. ‘It reduced significant amount of low frequency reflections and created tight and solid low frequency making the sound natural and clear.’
To address reflections from the balcony, Son needed to keep the energy off the glass surface. The beautifully simple solution to this saw dummy cabinets added into the array as ‘balcony spacers’, thanks to close collaboration with TW AUDiO HQ in Germany.
‘We asked TW AUDiO to make Vera 20i dummy cabinets, and they went the extra mile and calculated its physical weight. and did all the simulations to adjust array angles affected by the lighter dummy cabinets,’ Son says.
The end result has seen all of the acoustic challenges at Light Presbyterian Church resolved, and the congregation and technical team enjoying a new worship environment. ‘The church was so happy with the result that solved all the challenges,’ Son reporta. ‘One of the church sound engineers said he had never heard such a crystal crispy yet powerful sound.’
The importance of the installation goes beyond what Benabe ProSound has helped the church to achieve, it is also marks a notable first for the German manufacturer. ‘This was the very first installation of the Vera20 series in the North American church market,’ Son says. ‘So this project will be a cornerstone of TW AUDiO in Canada.’
