A recent sound reinforcement upgrade for the worship sanctuary of Mar Thoma Church in Dallas saw integration firm Apex General Trading (based in nearby Wylie, TX) deploy a new system incorporating a variety of loudspeakers from Electro-Voice driven by Dynacord DSP power amplifiers and companion components.
During the pandemic, the church’s need to quickly convert to virtual online worship services exposed the limitations of the aging analog sound system and, after 25 years of growth, the timing was right for the church to make a change in its approach to A/V.
“That experience made us realize that we needed to upgrade to a modern digital system to meet both our virtual and in-person worship needs,” explains Aby Thomas, executive committee member and sound upgrade convenor for the church. “We sourced several companies and made the decision to use Apex, who visited our facility, listened to our needs and presented us with a solution proposal that fit our approved budget.”
Apex General Trading is a startup integration company headed by friends and partners Dipu Harilal, a disabled U.S. veteran, and IT audio specialist Tinto Skaria. The company was invited to bid on the Mar Thoma upgrade after the church heard another Dallas-Ft. Worth-area church installation that Skaria had designed and installed.
“I think the reason we won the job was our approach, which was to learn their legacy system and how it was used, then take a step back to assess their current needs,” explains Harilal. “Between their need for streaming services and a move toward more contemporary music presentation, it was clear that they needed to go digital. There were a lot of options, but after consulting with our primary pro audio dealer, Sound Productions, we decided to work with Electro-Voice and Dynacord audio gear in putting our proposal together.”
Apex developed a proposal based around EASE models developed from blueprints of the 800-capacity facility. The sound system consists of twin EVH-1152D horn-loaded mains backed by a pair of EVF-2151D subwoofers hidden above and behind the altar area. Additional coverage is handled by two EVC-1082 point-source loudspeakers as 100 x 100-degree fills to cover seating behind the choir area. All loudspeakers are in matching white EVCoat.
Inputs, levels, DSP and other tasks across the Dante-enabled system are handled via the Dynacord MXE5 Matrix Mix Engine, and the entire system is powered by two Dynacord DSP amplifiers – an IPX10:8 and an IPX5:4.
“Having the entire system networked is a very powerful approach,” saysSkaria. “The system interface is Dynacord’s SONICUE software, which we used to set up the MXE5, creating custom profiles for each audio zone and optimizing loudspeaker performance. Initially, the system levels and EQ settings are all programmed and locked into the MXE5, with a future goal of creating touchscreen access after the church staff is fully trained.”
Thomas reports that the audio upgrade instantly proved to be well worth the wait: “The new EV sound system has made a huge impact on our worship. The church choir is ecstatic over the quality of the sound, and several church members have made similar comments. All agree that this project has been a huge success, meeting all our needs within the approved budget. Moving forward, the Apex team continues to help us train new A/V team users to meet both the in-person and virtual needs of our growing parish. We are extremely happy with the results.”
