Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Bethlehem, GA, which has existed in the same location since 1848, recently underwent a sound reinforcement upgrade implemented by Georgia-based S&L Integrated that’s headed by Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Compact steerable array loudspeakers.
The sanctuary’s previous system employed a pair of two-way loudspeakers flown sideways in a vertical array, with two small side fill loudspeakers to cover the front left and right seating areas. When on-axis with any one of the four loudspeakers, intelligibility was acceptable, but it dropped off significantly in the remainder of the room.
Church staff reached out to William Collins, account executive at S&L Integrated, to provide the upgrade, and he in turn contacted independent manufacturer’s representative Richard Hembree of Griffith Sales Associates to assist with the design. “The main loudspeakers are located in the center, which is usually the best location in a sanctuary,” Collins explains. “However, the sanctuary in Bethlehem UMC has a beautiful barrel shaped ceiling. Any sound generated from the center of the room is magnified significantly by this feature. The result is a significant percentage of the sanctuary with poor intelligibility.”
Specifically, a pair of Iconyx Compact ICC36/3 steerable arrays help in overcoming the room’s challenging acoustics, housed in slender cabinets that disappear into the background of the nave, Additionally, the beam steering technology facilitates a movable acoustic center, multiple beam opening angles and high-pass filtering of individual beams to further improve intelligilibity..
Upon hearing the new loudspeakers, the congregation expressed its satisfaction with the upgrade, with many having difficulty even seeing the smaller loudspeakers. “Oh! I thought those were just shadows,” said one member after having the loudspeakers pointed out to them.
