BABYLON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
When the Audio Staff at Babylon’s United Methodist Church began facing mix and feedback issues, they turned to WiredUP for assistance. WiredUP engineers conducted multiple days of research during Sunday Services, to get a better understanding of what was going on. While engineers were able to assist the in-house staff with making their mix sound good, the in-house staff decided that this presented the perfect time to upgrade their sound system.
One of the biggest complaints was the lack of sound in the balcony area. Previously, two EV ZX1 speakers were used for the entire church. When designing the system, in-house staff told WiredUP engineers that having some sort of audio reinforcement on the balcony would be paramount to retaining a better mix in the future. The new system that WiredUP engineers designed consisted of two JBL CBT-70J-1 Column Array Loudspeakers as the new main PA, and four JBL Control-52 Satellite Speakers for balcony fills. At the heart of it all, a Crown CDi DriveCore 4|600 amplifier.
After pulling nearly combined 500ft of cable through the basement and walls of this late-1800’s church, WiredUP engineers tuned the PA to the room. Using the Crown CDi DriveCore presents for the PA made the tuning process significantly more simple. In fact — the only tuning done to the system was a slight reduction in the 4kHz area. The Control-52’s are set to 31.52ms of delay to compensate for the space between the main PA and the delays. This is common practice when placing additional speakers downstream of the initial sound source. The client had also requested the integration of their existing X32 Console System and existing EV ZXA1-SUB Subwoofers. Engineers tuned the crossover point for all boxes to 65hz, which is the recommended crossover point of the CBT-70J-1 Column Array Loudspeakers, and marginally higher than the recommended crossover point of the Control-52 Satellite speakers.
The result? A powerful, clean and well balanced system that exceeded the expectations of the client. A system that sings beautifully together. A system that not only works in conjunction with a wind-driven organ system, but works together with the system to bring out less-present tones. Dynamic range that allows for soft spoken word to be heard, and loud, powerful vocals to deliver, but not hurt.
