Moorings Presbyterian Church in Naples, Florida recently razed its existing sanctuary, saving the small original chapel from the wrecking ball, and built a new one in its place, capable of seating some 750 congregants.

A 49 stop, 63 rank pipe organ serves as its centerpiece, and a substantial A/V system serves to support spoken word and all manner of classical and contemporary music.

An Ashly ne24.24M DSP provides the brains for the sound reinforcement system.

Moorings hired Riedel and Associates of Milwaukee, Wisconsin to design the new A/V system and Pro Audio Services (PAS) of nearby Port Charlotte, Florida for the installation.

PAS had completed the earlier work on both the Fellowship Hall and the gymnasium and had formed a tight relationship with the church’s technical team.

“In many cases, a church may not be entirely clear on what it wants until the system it previously asked for starts becoming a reality,” said PAS president/engineer, Chris Bertler. “It is thus part of our responsibility to refine the consultant’s design to perfectly fit the church’s needs.”

“In this case, it became clear that a digital console would provide greater flexibility for the multifarious uses that Moorings foresaw than the originally prescribed analog board. But at the same time, that upgrade would cost more money. We were obligated to look for other aspects of the system where we could find a savings.”

“We took some liberties,” he remarked, referring to the substitution of the ne24.24m over the previously specified DSP. “We’ve had lots of experience with the ne24.24M and it has always performed perfectly – great control and great sound with a great interface. Here was our opportunity to save Moorings some money without sacrificing system performance in the least!”

Moorings’ digital console is a 48-channel Yamaha M7CL, which outputs directly to the Ashly ne24.24M. The ne24.24M is a modular unit, which allowed PAS to tailor its size to the needs of the installation. The unit is fully-loaded with twelve inputs and twelve outputs, though only eight of the inputs are currently in use.

The Ashly processor provides time alignment for the entire system, along with EQ curves, compression, limiting and the like. It feeds five QSC PL340 amps, which provide speaker conditioning for ElectroVoice FRX+660 loudspeakers and PRUS+181 subwoofers.

In addition, the Ashly ne24.24M provides all of the processing for a record and broadcast chain, which is used for archival purposes and for a weekly spot on cable TV. It also provides a feed to and from the chapel and to the Fellowship Hall.

Ashly Website