Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary bolstered by EAW

Ford Audio-Visual Systems (Ford AV), a leading audio-video integrator with offices across the US, has installed EAW QX Series, AX Series and UB Series loudspeakers at the newly constructed J.W ‘Jack’ MacGorman Chapel on the campus of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas.

The EAW systems, configured in a central cluster with delays, under-balcony/front fills and choir monitors, provide voice and music reinforcement in the 3,500-seat auditorium. Additional EAW systems are installed in the chapel building’s choir and orchestra rehearsal rooms.

The new chapel building is intended as a training venue for expository preaching and will also house the musical performances, such as the annual presentation of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ by the seminary’s School of Church Music. The new, larger chapel is an upgrade for SWBTS, whose current chapel is unable to accommodate graduation ceremonies and other large events.

Casey Sherred, Acoustic Dimensions’ senior consultant, said: “The seminary’s top priority was speech reinforcement. The EAW QX speakers allowed us to design a speaker cluster that delivered natural speech reinforcement with great pattern control.”
Jon Pidgeon, project manager who is based at the Denver office of Ford AV explained: “This is a very substantial project and a lot of this chapel is being built around the audio-video systems.”

The new chapel features two 24 foot by 13.5-foot rear-projection screens, fully equipped high-definition video production and audio production suites, music and theatrical production rehearsals rooms that can accommodate over 200 people, and other facilities.
Pidgeon continued: “We have a total of 5 QX units hanging in one cluster, covered with a fabric orb. There are 2 QX side fills and five upper balcony delays that are also QX speakers. The centre QX cluster is being used for vocal reinforcement only, but they have the option in the DSP to also use it for live performances.”

The full range, three-way model QX564 and QX596 speakers respectively provide coverage over a 60-degree by 45-degree and 90-degree by 60-degree dispersion pattern.

Ford AV’s engineer on the project, Andrew Welker, added: “We’ve also installed some two-way, full range UB52 speakers for the under balcony and for front fill. We have four AX Series units for choir monitors and there are two rehearsal rooms that have other AX speakers in them. We’re using UX 8800 DSP units in conjunction with another processor.”

Ford AV designs, installs, rents and services professional sound, video and lighting systems for diverse venues and applications.

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