A recent AV upgrade project at Coral Gables Congregational Church, built in 1923 outside of Miami in the Spanish Colonial Revival style and listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places since 1978, saw Ft. Lauderdale-based integrator Sound Planning deploy a new sound reinforcement system utilizing a single Electro-Voice EVA array to deliver coverage to the entire sanctuary.
“This congregation has a real commitment to music, which they made very clear in our initial meeting,” notes Dave Armstrong of Sound Planning, which has a track record of working with historic worship spaces. “As soon as I saw the Bösendorfer grand piano in the sanctuary, I knew they were serious, and that the Electro-Voice EVA line array system would be a perfect candidate for the main PA.”
Each EVA module comprises two array elements with a total of two 8-inch woofers and four 1.25-inch compression drivers mounted on Hydra waveform converters in a compact enclosure with no visible rigging hardware that’s designed to minimize visual distraction. EVA modules are available in four fixed-angle configurations that can be combined in any order needed to optimize coverage in the specific space.
Once the church finalized its direction, Sound Planning was among the firms invited to bid. Using design input directly from Electro-Voice, they proposed the single EVA array to cover the entire congregational seating area, which includes a balcony. “It’s not a huge space, so all we needed was one center-hung three-box EVA array – the equivalent of a six-box conventional system,” Armstrong explains. “We installed it among the exposed beams in the ceiling, with the lowest point 21 feet above the floor. The beams are dark wood, so the black cabinets and cabling hide well up there. There were no objections to the aesthetics.”
The array includes three EVA-2082S elements with a progressive dispersion approach. For the long throw to the balcony, the top box has a tighter 90- x 6-degree coverage pattern. The middle cabinet covers the back of the room with its 90- x 20-degree pattern, while the bottom module utilizes 120- x 20-degree dispersion to address the front pews. For contemporary music presentations, a rolling cart with one self-powered Electro-Voice EKX-15SP subwoofer is available for extra low-end support.
“The historic architecture remains unchanged, the EVA system looks and sounds fantastic, and the folks at Coral Gables Congregational Church are thrilled,” adds Armstrong.
