ED: Have you evaluated and/or considered specifying the newer larger-format digital consoles like Yamaha PM1D and Innova-Son? What are the real advantages, if any, of going this way for a larger church system?

Vance: I've not taken a detailed look at the PM1D because it has only now gotten the bugs worked out. It looks very promising, although I understand it takes a long time to get to know how to use it. I need to find the time to check it out in detail.

Vance (continued): We’re putting an Innova-Son in my church next week. It looks pretty exciting and easy to use. We've also specified them for a couple other projects. I think the paradigm is the wave of the future and we'll see many more fully digital consoles in the future as the technology evolves and the bugs are worked out. Total recall, dynamics, and the automation are pretty cool.

Bcc: Are you getting any requests to offer the capability to "broadcast" services via Internet?

Vance: All the time. There are some great new products out there that are facilitating that sort of thing. I'm not totally up to speed on what's the latest and greatest, although Derek (in my office) is. Gear junkie, you know.

toby: What's been the truly most innovative product, for worship sound use, that's come along in the past five years?

Vance: I would say three things have made life easier and better - from a sound perspective. Digital consoles, DSP processing for systems with products like MediaMatrix, Soundweb, and some of the newer speaker technologies like the Renkus CT Series products. Also, tools like Smaart Pro. I guess that's four.

Marc: Multichannel amps seem to be offered more and more often. Is this just manufacturers looking for something "new" for the market, or are there distinct advantages to the multichannel approach?

Vance: We're using them all the time. They use less rack space and are more efficient in a cost-per-channel basis. As long as you don't need BIG POWER, the four-channel amps are cool. With the big ones, we're still using bigger two-channel amps. And then there's the whole idea of powered speakers.

Phil N: The principals at my church are hesitant to upgrade our outdated sound system. Money isn't really the problem; they just don't think it's needed. Any ideas of how to convince them otherwise?

Vance: I guess the question is: does the system you have meet your needs? If not, then it's time to move forward. There are some projects we've done in the recent past where it was difficult to convince everyone involved that they should spend the money on a large multi-channel system. If you talk to them now, they say that they wouldn't have done it any other way. I guess one way to do it is to have them listen to a really good system so that they can see what is possible. Then make the decisions.