Client Success Story: Calvary Chapel in Ellicott City
Time for another great audio project brought to you by the team at Audio-Video Group! AVG was called upon to help design and implement a new sound system for Calvary Chapel in Ellicott City, Maryland. Like many growing churches, Calvary Chapel had recently transitioned from a portable meeting space to a permanent space. This space, like many, was previously occupied and required some changes to make it functional. One major need—an audio system!
Lead Pastor Dan Sexton is big on quality—so much so, that he wanted to ensure that everything was done right from the start. We can appreciate that, as we see many churches that sometimes use temporary solutions that don’t permanently solve their problems. Pastor Dan was an exception, and AVG ensured the system was perfect from start to finish.
Since the new space was a retrofit, it was incredibly convenient that the last occupant just happened to be another church who outgrew the location and needed more space. While the previous church left none of the old sound equipment, they did happen to leave the wiring in place, which we were happy to re-utilize. With a little creativity, AVG devised a solution to provide the church with an extremely high-quality solution that met their needs for performance and speech reproduction.
For this project, AVG chose Tannoy VX series loudspeakers for main speakers and delay. Given the unique shape and ceiling configuration of the space, AVG wanted a speaker that could deliver clean coverage to each seating area. With a requirement for full music reproduction and spoken word, AVG turned to the incredibly reliable VX15HP for mains and VX8.2 for side and rear fills. We wanted to make sure that every seat received the same SPL (volume) from front to back and side to side. This design allowed AVG to keep the same voicing through the space, and provide a clean and warm sound, even at high levels, and crisp intelligibility for preaching and ministry.
To supplement the low-frequencies, AVG installed two Tannoy VSX115B, 15” passive subwoofers. These were installed on the left and right sides of the platform, and provided more than enough response for the church’s needs.
Mixing it all down, AVG chose to utilize the Allen & Heath QU-32 digital mixing console. An incredibly user-friendly mixing console, the QU-series consoles provide all the functionality of larger digital consoles in a small and volunteer-friendly surface. To round it out, AVG provided the church the Allen & Heath ME-series personal monitor mixing stations, giving the worship team the capability to control their own mixes, setting them up for success. For power, AVG again turned to Lab Gruppen, providing the necessary power for each speaker.
It’s not always easy to create high-quality sound, but with great products like this it sure does make it easier. When all was said and done, our favorite thing was not just how great it sounded, but that Pastor Dan’s smile was ear to ear. Turn it up, Pastor!
Need a new design or audio for your space? Let us help you put the pieces together for sharing your voice and vision. We can help put the puzzle together to make your venue sound just as good as Calvary Chapel!
To see more of this project, check out our portfolio!