Living Stones Church upgrades sound system with Danley Sound Labs

Living Stones Church in Red Deer, Alberta has replaced the existing sound system in its sanctuary with Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers and subwoofers.

Specified by Merge Systems, the new system is designed to provide optimum audio clarity across the entire sanctuary. Merge Systems’ Lance Spratt, explained: “The old system was remarkably inconsistent. In some seats you could hardly make out what was being said; in other locations the system punished your ears. Far from meeting their needs for contemporary worship services the system was hurting and distracting the congregation.

“There were two loudspeaker cabinets that were being asked to cover more (bandwidth and physical area) than they were designed to,” he continued. “Never mind all the nuanced ways that good systems can go bad. This one simply didn’t cover the congregation. It was doomed from the start.”

Spratt’s primary concern was to make the new system sound intelligible and musical for every seat in the sanctuary. “Tom Danley’s innovations result in transparent, articulate loudspeaker cabinets that array beautifully, with minimal required processing and amp channels,” he said. “In addition, Danley’s impressive pattern control down into the lower frequency range help to keep sound energy off the walls, an important consideration in this active acoustical environment.”

Spratt worked with Chad Edwardson at Danley Sound Labs to ensure that a design that worked for the existing sanctuary would still perform as desired when mirrored. “I also spoke with [Danley president] Mike [Hedden], who assured me that the Danley cabinets we installed today would still be available when the facility expansion commences,” explained Spratt. “He explained that the way they design the growing family of SH-series loudspeakers and TH-series subwoofers meant they would not be discontinued.”

On each of the two laminated beams hang two tight-packed Danley SH-50s – four SH-50s in all. Below each cluster hangs a Danley SH-95, providing down fill for the first few rows. Two Danley TH-115 subwoofers fill the low end from strategic locations on the floor. “I would have preferred to fly the subwoofers,” Spratt commented. “But our limited rigging options made it extremely difficult to fly and unsightly.”

Music and Fine Arts Pastor at Living Stones, Darren Aucoin, commented: “We are very pleased with the results of our new speaker system. We had some very unique sound needs in our sanctuary that would not be met with any conventional way of thinking. Merge/Danley designed a solution for us that has met our needs, and in some ways have exceeded them. I have had many people come to me to compliment the improved sound projection as well as sound quality. The added bonus was the overall and low-end volume capabilities of our new speakers. We have tons of headroom, and are able to provide quality sound at low or high volumes without blowing anybody away.”

“It doesn’t matter where you sit,” Spratt stated,” every seat gets the same full-range signal. From our standpoint, we received timely assistance and answers from Danley when we needed them, and the products performed exactly as advertised. It will be fun to double the system when the church builds out a mirror image. All the hard work is already done and all that’s left is the installation.”