Crawley church installs Electro-Voice system

25 April 2012

UK - There has been a St Andrew's Church serving the Anglican community of Furnace Green in the West Sussex borough of Crawley (around 30 miles south of London) since 1969, but deterioration in the fabric of the original building and growing congregations called for its demolition and the construction of an entirely new church in its place seven years ago. The new building with its attractive modern architecture was recently consecrated and provides a venue now not only for christenings, weddings, and other church services but also concerts and theatrical productions.

The diversity of the events planned for the new church called for a versatile sound reinforcement system. The task of specifying and installing the system was therefore entrusted to Creative Audio Visual Solutions, a company with considerable experience and expertise in the provision of solutions specifically for churches and other places of worship. "These always pose a challenge," explains Rob Alvis, the company's sales manager.

"On the one hand, the sound reinforcement system has to be versatile, offering the benefits of the latest technology and meeting the requirements of a wide variety of applications. On the other, it has to be a system that users with very little technical expertise can operate without problems. A further factor is that a way must always be found to deliver uncompromised sound quality without compromising the church's budget into the bargain."

The solution finally adopted emerged from exhaustive room simulations combined with acoustic calculations based on the architect's drawings - supplemented by real measurements once the work of construction was complete. The solution turned out to be an Electro-Voice sound reinforcement system comprising four white ZX5 loudspeakers flown above the altar with two TX1181 subwoofers placed on the floor to enhance the low frequency range.

The resulting sound quality is impressive, satisfying the highest concert sound standards whilst maintaining an excellent level of intelligibility. Five self-powered ZXA1 monitors are also on hand to provide foldback to the various ensembles that perform in the church, and these also blend unobtrusively into their surroundings.

Two Electro-Voice CPS 2.9 amplifiers and one CPS 2.12 provide the power and two Electro-Voice DC-One system processors provide effortless, intuitive control over the entire installation. As a further convenience, a wall panel offers ready-made mixer presets, thereby obviating the need for a sound engineer.

"The customer is completely satisfied with the installation," Alvis reports. "Both the performance and the handling of the system have met their highest expectations. They were also more than happy to take us up on the training opportunities we offer."

(Jim Evans)