ARIZONA CHURCH SOUND SOLUTIONS

ORX Balances Sonic Finesse and Value for House of Worship

Audio Visual Specialists of Camp Verde, AZ, recently completed a sound system upgrade at Emmanuel Fellowship Church in Cottonwood, AZ, using Electro-Voice QRx loudspeakers, Electro-Voice CP-series amplifiers and Klark Teknik Square One EQs and Dynamics to provide an optimal balance of value and high performance.

“We’ve been working on this project for a few years now, in step with the church’s annual budget, and previously put in an in-ear monitoring system, six wireless microphones and three antenna distribution systems to integrate with 19 channels of wireless microphones and their FOH console,” says Brent Payne of Audio Visual Specialists. “The installation of the EV QRx rig was the finishing touch, the end point at which you can walk in and hear all the difference their total investment made.”

Audio Visual Specialists replaced a left/center/right system from another manufacturer; the left and right mains were ten-year old two-way boxes and the center down-fill was a smaller two-way box from a different series, which caused driver issues. Non-time-aligned delay speakers from another brand had been installed about three quarters of the way to the rear of the room, along with some no-name subs down in front on either side of the stage. Simply put, Audio Visual Specialists’ all-EV spec replaced the kind of mix and match system found in houses of worship around the U.S.

“First we addressed reverb issues in the room by treating the rear wall of the church,” Payne adds. “The side walls were not addressed due to budget restraints. The gently pitched ceiling is made of wood, so there’s some absorptive coefficient, but not a whole lot. It was clear that we needed speakers with an inherently warm and flat characteristic that would work with the room, with minimal tweaking. We wanted to spec boxes from a single series, and found QRx offered the best performance at their price point.”

“The client’s comments have been to the tune of ‘it’s incredibly clean, we can hear every detail,’” says Payne. “The quality of the sound is astonishing in comparison to their previous system. They can now run a full concert in the room, which wasn’t possible before. You can hear people breathe while they sing—it really adds depth and character to the performances, again, even at higher SPLs. And, of course, the youth are digging it, as we can deliver their preferred dB level!”