To accommodate an increasing use of reinforced music, Midland Nazarene Church in Midland, MI, Center Line Technologies recently implemented a new sound system for the 450-seat sanctuary (built in 1970) that’s driven by Ashly Audio amplification and digital processing. Interestingly, the A/V integration firm, based in nearby Center Line, MI, also chose to re-deploy the prior system’s Ashly Audio FTX-1501 MOS-FET amplifiers (circa early 1980s).
“This is the kind of church that likes to do things for themselves,” explains Tony Rogalski, vice president at Center Line Technologies. “As their on-stage needs grew, they added four mini floor monitors for the praise team, two monitors for the pulpit, and two monitors for the musicians. All told, they had eight floor monitors on stage and only two small loudspeakers to cover the congregation. And they were the original two loudspeakers.”
Center Line replaced those “original two” with multiple new JBL flown loudspeakers, along with new subwoofers and stage monitors. The new system called for vastly more power channels, and while Rogalski was happy to keep the Ashly FTX-1501 MOS-FET amplifiers in service for monitors, he also added an Ashly KLR 5000 amplifier to power the left/right main loudspeakers and an Ashly KLR 4000 to drive the center loudspeaker and flown monitors.
A new Ashly ne24.24M processor with modular I/O now replaces the scant analog processing of the original system. The processor’s I/O count was increased to 8 x 8 to handle all of the new equipment.
“We started working with Ashly processing over 15 years ago, and it became our go-to processor,” says Rogalski. “Ashly processors never failed, and my field techs consistently reported that they were the easiest to program and gave them the most consistent results. Why mess with that track record? Ashly amplifiers won me over when we started specifying their combined amplifier/processor units.
“At the price point, it’s like buying an amplifier and getting a processor for free,” he continues.“Ashly amplifiers have proven to be every bit as robust as the Ashly processors that I’m more familiar with.”
New Shure wireless microphones and Aviom personal mixers provide a robust input set, which the church now mixes with a new Allen & Heath GLD-80 digital console. And, several of the previous floor monitors were re-purposed for use in classrooms that serve as overflow.
