The sanctuary at Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Carthage, TX has an upgraded sound reinforcement system headed by a recently introduced line array from WorxAudio Technologies.
Cape Coral, FL-based Creative Sound Solutions, a design/build firm that specializes in the house of worship market, was contracted to design and deploy the upgraded system. Rob Robinson, co-owner, chose a WorxAudio TrueLine X3i–P all-in-one compact line array and TrueLine X115 extended-bass subwoofer.
“Cedar Grove Baptist’s worship services have, for the most part, been traditional in nature,” Robinson reports, “though they are in the process of adding contemporary elements in order to help make services more relevant to younger members of the congregation.
:The church is also organizing a new praise band, and I expect that some sort of praise vocal team or choir will be added in the near future. Thus, the new sound system needed to provide a high level of speech intelligibility, along with accurate music reproduction characteristics — both traits sorely lacking with the old sound reinforcement setup.”
The sanctuary at Cedar Grove Baptist is intimate, measuring 80 feet wide by 60 feet deep, with a ceiling height of 20 feet. Seating capacity is for 250 people. To minimize line-of-sight considerations while also finding a loudspeaker setup that would provide accurate and consistent coverage throughout the room, the Creative Sound Solutions team flew the TrueLine X3i–P line array centered above the pulpit at a height of 16 feet.
The X3i–P line array incorporates three modules, each with a medium format, 1-inch exit compression driver that is paired with dual 8-inch cone transducers. The upper two 10-degree vertical dispersion and lower module with 25-degree vertical pattern combine to create a 36-degree vertical system with a broad 160 degree horizontal dispersion. The system is self-powered by a WorxAudio PXD-2580 digital power amplifier that delivers 1,000 watts to the low frequencies and 500 watts to the highs.
For low-frequency support, Robinson and crew positioned one WorxAudio TrueLine X115 subwoofer against the back wall of the stage/pulpit area, hidden from sight by the organ. The X115 is a compact sub-bass system that utilizes a single direct radiating 15-inch, 1000-watt (continuous) cone driver in a tuned enclosure.
“After the first service with the new equipment active,” says Robinson, “many people told us that they had never been able to clearly understand what the pastor was saying. With the new system, that issue exists no more. Every word is crystal clear and coverage is consistent throughout the room.”
He reports that church management couldn’t be happier: “They really just love the loudspeaker system and, just last week, I got a text from them asking if it would be okay if another church in their area could call us to do the same type of system at their facility. When one project leads to another new job, that’s as good as it gets.”
