More and more, church systems must meet a diverse set of needs. You can spend a good deal of time, money and effort in developing your system, but if the loudspeakers are not right for the job, you're less likely to be pleased with the system's overall performance.

There are a number of quality professional loudspeakers available, but the key is matching your specific needs with the loudspeaker that will best meet those needs. Articulate speech and musical fidelity are two criteria vitally important to your services and other functions.

The following suggestions are intended to help point you in the right direction. It's also highly recommended that you work with qualified sound system consultants and contractors to insure optimum results.

Decide on Standards of Comparison. Next to great sound (which is a subjective decision), determine what is most important to you. Size, price, reliability? Before you begin listening evaluations, narrow the field to a few systems. This list of candidates should be as closely equivalent to each other as possible with regard to the criteria that you determine as most important in your purchasing decision.

Use Familiar Material. If possible, try to arrange for a live comparison of your leading loudspeaker candidates in the space where they’ll be used, or at least a space with similar characteristics. Clergy and lay celebrants should speak through the system – when listening, determine which loudspeaker sounds closest to the natural vocal signature of the people talking. With music, choose selections you’re familiar with, and ones that mirror the types of music featured at your services.

Use Your Ears, Not Your Eyes. As you look at your potential loudspeaker choices, you'll soon discover that no two manufacturers use exactly the same measurement standards when creating specifications for their loudspeakers. By all means, read the product literature; it can sometimes offer valuable information. But remember - listening to comparable systems is the only test of actual performance.

Use Your Feet as Well as Your Ears. You'll start out standing right in front of the loudspeaker, but most of the audience will not be sitting there – they spread out far and wide. You need to hear how the sound changes as you move to the side, above and below, close up and far away. Ask your contractor how much of the space the system is intended to cover, then walk that space as you listen.

Listen to Your Collaborators. Most people can easily recognize a "good" loudspeaker system. Natural, undistorted sound makes a distinctive impression on which you and the other members of your building committee can agree.

Focus on the Voice. The spoken word should be reproduced as naturally as possible to accurately convey full content and emotion. To achieve this, consider loudspeakers that employ a true three-way design. Three-way systems offer a separate mid-range driver to handle almost the entire vocal range. The subtle voice characteristics tend to emerge clearly, and distortion is dramatically reduced.

Choose carefully and don't be afraid to voice your opinion when selecting loudspeakers. If you don't like what you're hearing during the demonstration process, resist the temptation to settle for second-best, and keep trying. Eventually you, your peers and your contractor will agree on the right solution for your house of worship's specialized needs.