Prescott United Methodist Church has installed a line array system drawn from the TrueLine catalog of North Carolina-based WorxAudio Technologies, a division of PreSonus.

The church had struggled with the challenging acoustical environment and a sound-reinforcement system that couldn’t distribute sound consistently throughout all areas of their sanctuary.

Indiana-based firm CSD Group, which provides design and installation services for audio, video, and lighting, was contracted to design and install the church’s new sound system. CSD president Doug Hood and his crew ultimately deployed two WorxAudio X3i-P compact, all-in-one, powered line arrays as the primary loudspeaker system.

“Prescott United Methodist’s sanctuary proved to be a challenging environment,” Hood explained. “The room is very live, which compromised speech intelligibility and caused music reproduction to suffer. There are hard surfaces everywhere, with drywall, hard floors, and glass doors and windows across the back end of the space. The room is also quite wide, making it considerably more difficult to gain even sound dispersion throughout the space for the approximately 300 worshippers. Furthermore, the church didn’t want the loudspeakers to be visually distracting. Hence, the compact X3s made a great choice for this project.”

“Music plays a huge role in the church’s worship services and consists of both choir and instrumentalists for a blend of traditional and contemporary music,” Hood continued. “Considering the importance of music in their programs, we elected to improve the acoustics of the space and deploy the WorxAudio line arrays in place of the point-source loudspeakers that were installed previously.”

Acoustic treatment of the room was the first priority. To address these issues, 96 4 x 2-foot panels were strategically placed throughout the room, with another 16 panels for the choir loft. Additionally, the old video screens were replaced with acoustically transparent screens to allow the organ’s loudspeakers to “breathe.”

To minimise line-of-sight considerations, the CSD crew flew the two white coloured WorxAudio X3i-P line arrays in a left-right configuration over the front edge of the stage area, using WorxAudio’s X-Minibeam 3 suspension system for each array. The X3i-P loudspeaker system incorporates three modules, each with a medium format, 1-inch-exit compression driver and dual 8-inch cone transducers. It is powered by WorxAudio’s PXD-2580 digital power amplifier.

With its unusually wide 160° horizontal dispersion and 40° vertical throw, the WorxAudio X3i-P turned out to be ideal for the project. “Because the church’s sanctuary is so wide, the X3’s wide dispersion was a significant factor in our decision to deploy this line array,” Hood reported. “We also like the fact that the X3 boxes have an extremely clean, streamlined appearance. The finished product looks much more sophisticated than many competing products. Our customer was very pleased with the aesthetics. We received comments that not only does the new sound system sound better, but it also looks better.”

In summarising his experience with the WorxAudio products on this project, Hood offered the following: “The folks at WorxAudio are top notch. We consistently receive excellent tech support, great followup, and timely responses to our questions. The WorxAudio team stays active with our company, so we try to work with them whenever we can. We have several new projects in development with them right now.”

Prescott United Methodist Church’s technical director Joel Bump is equally enthusiastic about the new WorxAudio loudspeaker system. “I believe we’ve struck the right balance between music and voice, with the room still seeming quite live,” said Bump. “When I ran the sound during the contemporary service for the first time, the instruments were each individually audible. All the musicians immediately noticed the clarity. Several critical choir members reported they could hear everything crisply and at a good listening level. The spoken word is very intelligible and well-articulated. The sermon was crystal clear throughout the room. We are all very pleased.”

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