A new, almost 70,000-square-foot sanctuary at Valley International Christian Center (VICC) in San Benito, TX is outfitted with sound reinforcement systems headed by a variety of D.A.S. Audio loudspeakers to help insure a high level of both speech intelligibility and music reproduction characteristics.
Simon Estrada Jr., VICC’s campus sound engineer who operates a sound services company under the name Supernatural Designz (Brownsville, TX), guided church management through the sound system selection process in addition to overseeing its deployment.
Ultimately, Estrada selected D.A.S. Aero 12A line array enclosures and LX-218CA subwoofers from the company’s Aero Series 2 product line, along with Road 12A floor monitors and Artec 508A point source loudspeakers.
“The sanctuary accommodates 2,000 people,” Estrada reports, “and this is comprised of moveable seating both on the main floor and on risers. Further, the room has an arched steel ceiling with a maximum height of 40 feet, so it’s a good-sized room. VICC offers a contemporary worship experience and the Praise band consists of about 50+ volunteers, so music is really important.”
To ensure consistent coverage throughout the sanctuary, VICC’s new SR system in comprised of 16 Aero 12A line array enclosures – with eight cabinets each for the left and right sides. The D.A.S. Aero 12A is a two-way, mid-high line array module encompassing one 12-inch transducer with a neodymium magnetic assembly, D.A.S. Audio’s M-75N Neodymium compression driver with a 1.5-inch exit, and the company’s SERPIS high frequency plane wave generator.
For low frequency support, Estrada and his team installed four LX-218CA sub bass enclosures – positioned underneath the front of the stage area. The LX-218CA utilizes dual D.A.S. 18LXN long-excursion transducers in a front loaded bass-reflex configuration.
Stage monitoring is handled by six D.A.S. Audio Road 12A floor monitors, positioned three enclosures each for the left and right sides. The Road 12A is a 2-way system that utilizes a 12-inch transducer with a 3-inch voice coil along with the company’s M-75 compression driver.
Rounding out the system, there are six D.A.S. Artec 508A loudspeakers that are used as front fill. These enclosures are all positioned along the front edge of the stage, with four enclosures distributed across the center area and one each of the far left and right sides. The D.A.S. Artec 508A is a 2-way design comprised of an 8-inch LF transducer mated with the company’s M-34 compression driver with a 1-inch exit. All loudspeakers in VICC’s new system are self-powered models.
“D.A.S. offers a very high quality product that features excellent sound quality and great features with very innovative design,” Estrada explains. “This is a cutting edge sound system in a brand new, sophisticated facility. This system was, unquestionably, the best choice for the church.”
