The new 3,000-seat worship sanctuary of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, offers a sound reinforcement system headed by Outline Butterfly loudspeakers as well as other Outline components.
Both the sound and acoustical design on the project were provided by SIA Acoustics, which has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and most recently, India.
The main sound system is comprised of 42 C.D.H. 483 “Butterfly” loudspeakers, divided into three arrays (two of 13 elements and one of 16) to cover the floor seating area, with 10 Outline Subtech 218 SP for low-frequency reproduction and 11 Outline Micra II SP loudspeakers for front fill.
The raised seating area is served by six delay arrays, each composed of six Outline Mini-COM.P.A.S.S. elements and two Outline C.D.L. 1815 cardioid “Low Packs: connected via a custom-built spreader bar to suspend the subwoofers directly behind the full-range arrays.
This arrangement permitted the most consistent alignment between components and minimized sightline obstructions, while extending full-range impact to the most distant seats.
Regarding the sound system design, Adam Shulman, Consultant and System Designer with SIA Acoustics explains, “It was extremely important to the Church that the worship experience was consistent across all 3,000 seats in the space.
“Sonically, this meant very careful sound system design and judicious use of acoustical treatments. Visually, it was critical that sightlines from every location were preserved to the entire stage and projection screens.
“Though the ability of the system to ‘throw’ was not such a concern, utilizing main and delay loudspeakers allowed us to hide the substantial arrays in the ceiling structure while preserving the needed pattern control and consistency,” Shulman continues.
“And since opening, the church leadership has received compliments about the sound and overall experience from what might, in other facilities, be considered the ‘nosebleeds’ – but not here. We worked hard to ensure that there are no ‘cheap seats’ in this facility.”
