In an effort to make its services more engaging and relevant to an ever-expanding and diversified congregation, Haw River Christian Church, doing business as The Lamb’s Chapel in Haw River, NC, recently completed its new, two-story, 31,889 square foot worship center that’s headline by a new sound reinforcement system, as well as a dynamic video system.

With the sanctuary providing a seating capacity ranging from 2,500-3,000 (depending upon the arrangement of the movable seating), the new complex takes advantage of the latest advances in building construction.

The Lamb’s Chapel employs a structural steel skin – thereby dramatically reducing the time required to erect the facility – with a stone, stucco, and glass veneer. Like the building itself, The Lamb’s Chapel employs state-of-the-art AV technology to help its pastoral staff convey God’s word.

Burlington NC-based Boone Audio Incorporated, a design/build firm specializing in audio and video installations for the church, corporate, and education markets, was contracted to provide the audio-visual system for the new worship center.

According to Paul Boone, President and CEO of Boone Audio, Inc., “The Lamb’s Chapel is a non-denominational church that offers a unique blend of traditional and contemporary worship styles, with music assuming a vital role in their services. In addition to a full choir, there is also a five-piece praise band plus a praise team consisting of five vocalists and a worship leader.

“In order to gain a thorough understanding of the church’s requirements for the new facility, we attended services and met extensively with church management during the planning stages.”

“It became quite clear that management sought a concert level sound system with an equally compelling visual presence to help reinforce the message,” Boone stated. “With that in mind, we proceeded to design a sound system that included left-center-right line array clusters consisting of loudspeakers from the WorxAudio Technologies TrueLine catalog with five strategically placed Da-Lite Da-Snap projection screens.”

The Lay Of The Land
The Lamb’s Chapel sanctuary is a rectangular space with a main floor area measuring 134 feet in width by 92 feet in length to the rear wall and a ceiling height of 36 feet. A balcony extends from the rear wall of the main floor and this area increases overall room length to 148 feet.

In addition to addressing a number of acoustical reflections, the most pressing challenge in terms of sound system design was to gain even dispersion throughout the space – including the rear balcony area – without drowning those members of the congregation close to the stage with overly oppressive sound pressure levels.

Though the sanctuary is carpeted, the room’s sheetrock walls created a number of undesirable acoustic reflections that seriously degraded speech intelligibility, as Boone explained. “With engineering assistance from WorxAudio’s Hugh Sarvis, who used a TEF analyzer to measure the room and EASE Focus for modeling, it became immediately clear that the two rear walls opposing the stage (the front and rear extremities of the balcony) were real problem spots that required acoustical treatment.

“To address this, we used 1-inch thick acoustic paneling made from Manville Whispertone wallboard that we covered with sound absorbing material from the Interface Fabric Group (part of Guilford of Maine). We also applied panels along the upper portion of the side walls to further dampen the area.”

The Soundscape Takes Shape
Over the front edge of the stage area, the Boone Audio crew flew three clusters consisting of WorxAudio Technologies TrueLine M80i-P self-powered, 2-way line array elements utilizing dual 8-inch cone transducers coupled with a 1-inch exit compression driver.

The left and right clusters each consist of four M80i-P modules along with a single M80iDF-P downfill module. The center cluster consists of eight M80i-P elements plus the M80iDF-P downfill module.

For sub bass reinforcement, the system includes three subwoofers. Two WorxAudio TL218SS-P self-powered, dual 18-inch subwoofers are vertically aligned with the left and right line array clusters and are positioned underneath the front edge of the stage. Additionally, a single TL.118SS-P single 18-inch subwoofer is located underneath the stage’s front center.

On the rear of the center array, there is single M80i-P module mounted to the top of the cluster. This element serves as a down-firing monitor for the choir. Boone noted, “With the enclosures’ 160-degree horizontal, 10-degree vertical dispersion pattern, it does a great job covering a large choir, and since it’s mounted to the back of the cluster, it’s invisible to the audience.

Supplementing the down-firing M80i-P, there are two WorxAudio Wave Series 8M stage monitors that can be freely positioned as needed. Augmenting these monitors, the performing musicians and praise leader utilize Aviom Pro16 in-ear monitor systems.

Centrally located at the rear of the main floor area, the front-of-house mix position houses an Allen & Heath ML3000-48 mixing console, an Ashly Audio NE-Series Protea ne24.24M digital signal processor for loudspeaker management, a Lexicon MX200 processor for reverb and other effects, plus a Drawmer DL241 Auto Compressor for compression and limiting.

For audio recording during services, a Microboards Technology Copywriter Live CR-R and duplicator is provided. “Since this station is manned entirely by volunteer staff,” Boone noted, “We created a series of mix templates to address common sound reinforcement scenarios that can be recalled, and then we trained the staff on basic operation of the system. In doing so, the volunteer FOH mix engineer manages fader movement, but really needn’t be burdened with much more than overseeing individual channel levels.”

In order to facilitate freedom of movement, wireless microphones are used extensively. There are a total of seven Audix RAD360 UHF wireless systems. Five of these are the W3-OM6 systems that utilize the OM6 dynamic handheld microphone transmitter.

These are used by the praise leader and select vocalists. For the pastor and a guest speaker, the two remaining systems are of the W3-BP variety consisting of bodypack transmitters coupled with lavaliere microphones.

Presenting A Vivid Picture
A total of five front projection screens do an outstanding job providing a variety of visuals that include video clips, pictures, lyrics, and more. The primary left and right screens positioned on the wall at the rear of the stage/altar area are 12 x 16-foot Da-Lite Da-Snap models coupled with a pair of Eiki LC-X71 5500 ANSI Lumens XGA LCD projectors.

Located at the front edge of the balcony area, two 7 x 9-foot Da-Lite Da-Snap screens provide visual assistance to those in rear of the sanctuary. These screens take their feeds from a pair of Eiki LCXB41 4000 ANSI Lumens XGA LCD projectors.

A fifth screen is used in a very different capacity. Positioned 92 feet out from the stage on the rear wall facing the stage is another 7- x 9-foot Da-Lite Da-Snap screen that takes its feeds from an Eiki LC-XG400 5000 ANSI Lumens XGA LCD projector.

“This screen is used in a teleprompting capacity,” explained Boone, “providing lyrics for the choir and other vocalists as well as additional cues that may be deemed necessary during a service. Both the house displays and the one for the choir take their content feeds from two separate personal computers.”

A Moving Experience
In the short time frame since The Lamb’s Chapel began using their new AV system, Boone reports everyone at the church – including the clergy, music staff, and the congregation – has been extremely enthusiastic. “It’s really gratifying to see what a positive impact the new AV system is having on everyone at the church,” says Boone. “Inside and out, The Lamb’s Chapel is a really impressive facility. With the new AV system operational, the sound quality from the WorxAudio loudspeakers is clear and even no matter where one happens to be seated in the hall.

“Similarly, the pastor, choir, and others on stage can hear clearly thanks to the combination of overhead, floor, and in-ear monitoring systems. Combine all this with a first-rate visual presentation that is easy-to-read text and full of vivid colors, and you have a recipe for success.”

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