Black Rock Church in Fairfield, Connecticut, turned to integrator AE Global Media for audio, video and lighting solutions when developing its new facility. The new space accommodates 1,000 visitors in the main worship area and needed an audio system to provide even, powerful sound for a wide range of music and worship styles. AE Global Media, in collaboration with Black Rock’s technical director Joe Cichon, selected a system made up of RoomMatch loudspeakers from Bose Professional.
“To many audio professionals, Bose is more associated with quality audio components for home, auto and consumer use than large-format P.A. systems,” stated Donnie Haulk, ceo of AE Global Media. “I had that opinion myself, until I was lucky enough to be brought in as a consultant when Bose was developing the RoomMatch system a few years ago. This was right around the time AE Global Media was joining the Black Rock Church project, and having experienced the RoomMatch system first-hand, I knew that would be the right solution for this large worship space.”
Cichon stated, “When selecting a system for our new room, I needed to depend on a system that would provide a wide dispersion rate, as our new room is also designed with stadium seating. As I traveled to many conferences and demos, I happened upon a Bose RoomMatch array demo. The sonic clarity, dispersion degree and high sound pressure level were exactly what I was looking for.”
The following Bose RoomMatch loudspeaker modules were installed: one RM9005, three RM9010, six RM9020, one RM12005, three RM12010, six RM12020, 11 RMU208 and four RMS218 sub woofers. System processing is handled by a Bose ControlSpace ESP-00 engineered sound processor, two ESPLink output cards, one AES input card and 10 ESPLink input cards. The system is powered by 10 Bose PowerMatch PM8500N configurable power amplifiers.
Haulk notes, “We needed to be able to achieve a concert-level sound pressure while maintaining the fidelity of the sound, and that’s what Bose managed to accomplish with the RoomMatch system. The first weekend in the new space, there was a wide range of artists and musicians on the platform, over several different services – from concert cellists to acoustic/folk instruments to a rock band P&W setup. And across all of these services, the musicians and the congregation were all very pleased. On the classical side, it was like listening to the instruments right in front of you, unamplified, and on the rock band side, it was very smooth and pleasant-sounding, but with the high SPL that they needed.”
Cichon added, “Working with the Bose team was one of the best experiences of our facility build. They were responsive, professional and well equipped and performed above my expectations. The install and results are stunning. Audio perfection.. Every seat has the same dynamic sound, allowing people to choose seating for comfort, and not for sound reasons. At our front of house position, our engineers are confident that every seat in the room has the same audio experience. The Bose system made it happen.”