The congregation attending services at the new 2,500-seat Dwelling Place sanctuary at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens, FL is served by house sound reinforcement and monitor systems utilizing a variety of loudspeakers from ISP Technologies.
Impediments such as the unpredictability of the pandemic and the temperamental Florida weather were barriers to maintaining a consistent schedule for construction and services on the project. “Building during the Covid-19 pandemic was extremely difficult – tariff charges, product increases, product availability and not being able to get supplies in a timely fashion made this a stressful process,” says Kimbrick Jordan, sound engineer at Antioch. “However, while we were waiting for the new facility to open, we relied on online streaming which we’d started back in March 2020 when Covid-19 forced us to move online. Through our ministry via Zoom and livestreaming, we’ve been able to reach people locally as well as abroad.”
With the blueprints drawn up back in October 2016, the sanctuary opened finally opened almost five years later in September of last year. Jordan worked with Calvin Seymour on the sound design and explains: “I was introduced to ISP Technologies by Scott Pederson of Remote Production Group around 2015 and had the opportunity to meet Buck (Waller, owner of ISP) in Vegas in 2016. After that, I went to visit him for three days in Michigan and listened to every box they make. All their boxes are powered and the amplifiers are better than anything I’ve heard of before. Buck helped design our new system, but Seymour complains sometimes because when I really turn everything up, it rocks the cameras.”
The system utilizines flown left-right line arrays each comprised of 12 ISP Technologies HDL3312 modules augmented by six ground-stacked and two flown XMAX218 dual 18-inch subwoofers. Front and under-balcony fill coverage is delivered by eight HDL2208 cabinets. Meanwhile, the stage monitoring system utilizes six VM110 floor monitors, four HDM112s, four HDM115 stereo pairs, four ProWedge 212s and six OVP-1s.
The ISP equipment, all manufactured in Michigan, is designed to meet the needs of reinforcing larger spaces, and the loudspeakers are powered by Class-A/B amplification with the company’s patented Dynamic Adaptive Amplifier (DAA) technology. “We don’t integrate Class-D topologies into our designs as they exude a brittle, shrill tone compared to our much warmer Class-A/B amplifier,” Waller explains. “We get almost the same heat but we also pull less current than Class-D. This makes them much more efficient and cost-effective for the electricity bill.
“We also pay particular attention to the midrange, so the vocals can always be heard clearly, which is imperative for the church market,” he continues. “It is no good if the music is loud and then the pastor speaks, and you can’t understand him.”
Despite the challenges Antioch experienced as they labored to build the sanctuary, Jordan commends the work done by ISP Technologies to meet the church’s needs: “From a buyer’s perspective, Buck and the ISP family went above and beyond exceptional customer service. Everyone went to such extreme measures to make sure everything went according to my vision. They paid close attention to every detail regardless how large or small – if it mattered to me, it mattered to them. From an end user perspective, after over 30 years in the production field, I’ve now had the opportunity to mix on and listen to what I consider to be the best sound system in the industry and I promise, you won’t find a better built or a better sounding versatile box in its class.”
