A recent renovation of the 400-seat sanctuary at Highland Park Baptist Church in Columbia, TN is highlighted by a new sound reinforcement system utilizing Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers driven by Ashly Audio amplifiers and digital processors, implemented by Church Interiors of High Point, NC.
“Highland Park’s old sound system had an undersized 16-channel board and frustratingly uneven coverage,” explains Wayne McKinney, sales engineer with Church Interiors. “They have solidly traditional services with a strong choir, piano, and organ, but they’re looking to incorporate more contemporary elements. They needed the new sound system to deliver better coverage and intelligibility for their existing program material and to facilitate (and not hinder) their anticipated growth.”
Although McKinney was able to repurpose or reuse some of the old system’s components, such as a CD player, a CD recorder, and several up-to-date wireless microphones, most of the system had to be replaced.
“We ran several models and found that Danley loudspeakers and subs gave us much better coverage with significantly fewer boxes than the alternatives,” continue McKinney. “The performance would be better, particularly in terms of pattern control, and the cost would be lower. You can’t beat that.
“Moreover,” he continues, “the fewer Danley boxes give an overall cleaner look. It’s neat and tidy. Because the sanctuary has an over-balcony and an under-balcony, we used a delay system to supplement the main cluster.”
Two Danley SH-50s provide main seating coverage from above the stage, with a Danley TH-118 subwoofer mounted in the organ chamber for low-end support. Two delayed Danley SH-Micros cover the lower balcony while three cover the upper balcony.
Two Ashly 4.8SP four-by-eight Protea DSP system processors handle the output from an Allen & Heath GLD 112 console to deliver optimized dynamics and frequency domain characteristics to the loudspeakers and subwoofer. Six dual-channel, 1,000-watt-per-channel Ashly KLR-2000 amplifiers and three dual-channel, 1,600-watts-per-channel Ashly KLR-3200 amplifiers power the system.
“I’ve been a fan of Ashly processing and power for over 20 years,” says McKinney. “They’ve always maintained excellent build quality and always come through with knowledgeable, fast customer service. The Ashly KLR-Series amplifiers give the Danley system the punch it needs at a very competitive price point. The Ashly processing is super easy to use, and all of the algorithms are transparent.”
