Lakewood Church, Houston
The venue that puts the “mega” in megachurch, occupying the arena formerly known as the Compaq Center, recently received a complete audio upgrade courtesy of Houston-based Covenant Communications. Led by senior pastor Joel Osteen, the 16,800-seat church is configured with a large stage at the front, with floor and tiered seating all around. Acoustics are helped by padded seats, sloping floor, and carpeting.
The system project kicked off with a demonstration of Crown Audio IT12000HD power amplifiers on a section of the existing system, which provided improvement in headroom and clarity. It led to a line array demo process, with JBL VTX Series coming out on top.
The new loudspeaker complement includes 60 JBL VTX V25 line array cabinets and 20 VTX S28 subwoofers, flown in four arrays: main left-right V25 arrays of 20 enclosures each, two suspended arrays of 10 S28 subwoofers and two side arrays with 10 V25 loudspeakers each. The main left-right arrays curve down 90 degrees to cover from front seats all the way up to the back bowl of the church.
In addition, JBL VerTec VT4886 subcompact line array elements are employed—eight for sound reinforcement for the choir, 12 for out fill and six for front fill. Seventy-three IT12000HD amplifiers and BSS Audio BLU-800 signal processors drive the loudspeakers.
The sound team also finds the system easier to set up and configure than what was previously installed due to the synergy between the loudspeakers, amplifiers, and Harman HiQnet System Architect and BSS London Architect programming software and communications protocol.
“Pastor Osteen wants the system to sound everywhere the way it sounds in the front row, and with this system we have nailed it,” states Lakewood Church technical director Reed Hall. “Compared to the old system from the console, Osteen’s voice sounds 50 feet closer than it did before.”
Kwang Mying Church, Seoul, South Korea
Eidim Audio Visual, headquartered in Buena Park, CA, just finished the system installation at this newly built five-story church, where the main sanctuary seats 5,500 in an extremely wide, fan-shaped configuration.
The room hosts traditional worship service with sermon, praise with full band and a choir, and various styles of high-SPL live concerts, in addition to serving as a multi-purpose non-worship performance center.
The church sought a system with the ability to deliver consistent 100 dB levels throughout the sanctuary, as well as even distribution of 110 dB peaks for dynamic events requiring more volume.
The all-Adamson loudspeaker lineup includes main left and right flown arrays each comprised of six Y10 full-range enclosures as well as four SpekTrix 5-degree boxes to provide extreme front coverage.
An array of four more SpekTrix enclosures is flown above the front/center of the front platform to bolster center coverage due to the room’s expansive width.
Flanking each array are flown pairs of T21 Sub dual-21 subwoofers, delivering low-frequency dynamic while staying off the stage and out of sightlines. Coverage is extended to the far reaches of the room with 10 CB1 compact loudspeakers flown in an arc and time-delayed in relation to the mains. And, up to 10 Adamson model 10MX monitors are available for use on the platform.
Loudspeakers are driven by Lab.gruppen fP Series amplifiers, with system drive settings and control handled with Lake digital processing. The system also includes a DiGiCo D5 house console as well as Sennheiser 5000 Series and Shure UHF-R wireless microphone systems.