South Biscayne Church in North Port, FL is a Southern Baptist Convention church that offers a high energy worship experience for all ages. The experiences was recently improved with the installation of loudspeakers from Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio.
GC Pro (Guitar Center Professional Division) of Atlanta, GA—working with Tampa, FL-based Event Resource Group— designed and deployed a sound reinforcement system at the church utilizing D.A.S. Event 208A 3-way active line arrays, Event 218A dual 18-inch powered subwoofers, Action M12A 2-way powered stage monitors, and a DSP-26 stereo / mono processor for loudspeaker management. GC Pro account manager Brad Lyons engineered an upgrade plan for South Biscayne Church’s front of house and stage audio, broadcast audio, video for IMAG (image magnification), and broadcast video. He discussed the project and his reasons for selecting D.A.S. Audio.
“There were many design challenges in providing the ideal audio system for South Biscayne,” Lyons reports. “Formerly a shopping center, the worship center’s ceiling height was just under 20 feet with a dropped ceiling. The space itself measures roughly 100 feet deep and 70 feet wide. With support beams running across the side of the area, this technically cut the trim height. The sanctuary uses movable seating and has a capacity for roughly 900 people. Music plays a huge role in worship services, with a full worship band, vocal team, and occasionally a choir. But ultimately, the message is the fundamental teaching, so both music reproduction and a high level of speech intelligibility were essential from the sound system.”
To address these challenges, Lyons and the Event Resource Group team flew two clusters of four Event 208A line array elements for the left-right hangs over the front edge of the stage (which faces into the width of the room) at a height of 18 feet. For low frequency support, two D.A.S. Event 218A subwoofers—one enclosure per side—were positioned into custom recessed cubicles into the underside of the stage front. Four D.A.S. Action M12A floor monitors provide foldback for the vocal team on the front stage expansion. “Between the use of AFMG’s EASE Focus acoustic modelling software for system tuning, we were able to plan how many loudspeakers were required and at what angles they should be positioned to achieve the perfect coverage pattern,” Lyons explained.
“The challenge on this installation was to provide even sound coverage not only from side to side, but also from front to back—while at the same time not creating line-of-sight issues with the video screens,” he said. “The Event line arrays were not only the right size, their broad horizontal dispersion and solid throw made them the perfect solution. The system delivers incredible sound with amazing clarity of vocals and instruments along with huge bottom-end from the two subs. Thanks to very carefully planned placement and the capabilities of D.A.S. Audio’s excellent DSP, the system provides incredibly even coverage without being too loud.”
South Biscayne Church’s new sound reinforcement system was installed the week prior to Easter and the system was first utilized for Easter services.
“Upon sound check before Easter weekend, the worship and production teams were blown away by just how amazing the D.A.S. system sounded. Further, the entire congregation absolutely loves their new sound system. When the pastor is preaching, it sounds as if he’s right in front of you and when the worship team is leading, it’s a concert-like experience. D.A.S. Audio is a leader and an innovator in professional loudspeaker design and this system proves it.”
