White Train Entertainment (Rockford, IL) recently outfitted the new sanctuary of Crossroads Community Church in nearby Winnebago, IL with a main sound reinforcement system headed up by dual QSC active line arrays joined by additional components from the company.
The church’s move to a new building comes after years of meeting in various rented spaces, with a sonic upgrade needed to replace the portable systems that volunteers had been setting up for pastors and worship bands. The choice of the QSC arrays came after an analysis of the spece by White Train Entertainment.
“The capacity is just under 200 people, so it was a big jump for Crossroads to move to a professionally installed line array as opposed to a couple of mobile loudspeakers,” says Jeremy Rollefson, co-owner of White Train. “As a systems integrator, I’ve been a QSC customer since 2010 and have multiple certifications in live sound and a background as a touring engineer. This helped me view the church as a blank canvas that needed a custom solution instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. QSC offers incredible bang for buck to begin with, but especially for contemporary churches because they’re using the system all the time — they have a lot more events than just Sunday services.”
The new house system incorporates arrays of four KLA12 cabinets flown on either side of the stage, with a pair of KS212C active cardioid subwoofers underneath. Two K8.2 loudspeakers handle front fill needs, while two more of the loudspeakers are on the platform as stage monitors.
To arrive at the decision to utilizing KLA12 line array, Rollefson balanced multiple considerations. “In a house of worship, one of those is aesthetics,” he explains. “A flown line array looks a lot cleaner than multiple loudspeakers on poles or in a stack.”
“Next I thought about coverage and phasing,” he continues. “The low ceiling and lack of acoustical dampening made a line array ideal for covering the entire space without any frequency scoop-outs. The QSC KLA12s stand out because they have the most accurate sonic response out of all manufacturers in their price range. They are also flexible enough to cover 90 degrees vertically and 90 degrees horizontally when rigging five boxes, and their low power consumption makes them cost-effective over the long term.”
The church wanted the subwoofers under the stage, again for visual reasons. “I had about 20 inches of clearance, and this is where the KS212C came into play,” Rollefson explains. “They have a 3,600-watt amp, their frequency response reaches down to 44 Hz, and the dual-12-inch setup is comparable to a good 18-inch sub in terms of output.”
Rollefson’s choice of the K8.2 for both fill and monitoring was spurred by it’s small footprint and wide dispersion. “The K.2 Series are great at adapting to multiple circumstances because of their small size, power, and horn coverage. So, I used one K8.2 in each subwoofer cavity, also underneath the stage. The K8.2’s wide 105 degree coverage let the people in the first few rows hear evenly from the center all the way out to the sides.”
When all was installed and tuned, Crossroads Community Church was beyond pleased with the results. “At the first service for which I sound-engineered, I received many compliments about how the system exceeded everyone’s expectations and the attendees finally felt at home in their new church,” sRollefson concludes. “A vast demographic attends Crossroads at Winnebago, and the young people were engaged and excited while the senior folks could hear clearly and were comfortable with the volume. The whole system exceeded our expectations; I’m amazed at the quality of the sound.”
“As a worship leader, I’ve experienced many types of sound systems in different environments over the past 15 years. The QSC install is incredible and makes such a difference for our worship environment; the entire room feels full and the sound stays at a comfortable listening level for everyone,” adds worship director Melissa Bushman. ”And as a vocalist, the first change I noticed right away was that I didn’t have to fight to be heard through the monitors. With the old system, I didn’t realize how much strain I was putting on my voice in order to compensate for the stage volume level. Now, the stage is balanced and comfortable so that I can focus on my craft. I love everything about it.”
