Professional audio and lighting installation company Sven Pro (Milwaukee) recently implemented a new sound reinforcement system at The Vine Church in Madison, WI that’s driven by Powersoft Duecanalli and Quattrocanali amplifiers.
Operating out of a modern building with exposed architecture and open ceilings, the church has been serving its congregation since first opening its doors in 2013. Sven Pro system designer Blake Akers sought to deliver better overall sound quality and more specifically, to provide increased speech intelligibility.
Yet before designing the system, Akers and his team needed to contend with the existing acoustics of Vine Church in choosing what elements to use and where to install them. “We had to work out speaker placement that wasn’t going to affect any of the lights or projector while still being in a position to reach the four different sections of the church,” Akers explains. “We also were dealing with concrete floors and open ceilings, so we knew that acoustic treatment was going to be necessary in order to get the most out of the system.”
Additionally, the team wanted to ensure that the new system would be easier to use and be perfectly suited to the space. “With their existing system, the tech staff at the church had to use a lot of creative EQing to ensure that it worked, which obviously wasn’t ideal,” he says. “We always strive to put in a system that is specific to the needs of a given space, and we want the install and use of our systems to be as painless as possible.”
The core of the system utilizes a Powersoft Duecanali 4804 DSP+D and a Quattrocanali 2402 DSP+D to power Seeburg loudspeakers, dividing the load between the two amplifiers for added control. Specifically, Quattrocanali drives the mains with Duecanali handling the subwoofers. “We chose the Powersoft amplifiers for a few reasons,” Akers notes. “First, they are incredibly reliable, and we knew that they would be able to serve the church for a long time. Second, they’re incredibly powerful amplifiers and we knew that this would be easy lifting for them in a room of this size.”
The loudspeakers were chosen using acoustic modeling software, with the mains and side fills installed in the beams overhead. “Using the modeling software, we knew right away what speaker system we wanted to use, and that we wanted to use the overhead beams to hang them for the correct angles,” Akers says. “We also did some acoustic treatment in the room to take away unnecessary reverberation.”
Prior to installing the amplifiers, Akers was able to program them specifically for the project using Powersoft ArmoníaPlus system management software: “We like using ArmoníaPlus for these installs because it allows us the prep the amplifiers in-house before the install. That way, they’re plug and play when we get onsite and we can immediately start tuning to the room. Not only that, but because they are all on the network, we can control them using DSP from front of house without having to connect any Ethernet cables.”
