Sometimes it’s hard to focus when there’s an elephant in the room—or, in this case, four of them—big, white, noisy and looming over the stage.
After years of wrangling a bulky, dated sanctuary PA system, Sumner, Washington’s Calvary Community Church finally turned to Olympia-based CCI Solutions to outfit its 550-seat main campus worship space with new ARCS WiFo Constant Curvature WST line arrays from L-Acoustics.
CCI Solutions project lead Mark Pearson notes that the previous system of “refrigerator-sized boxes” not only wasn’t up to the task as the four-campus church’s worship style became more contemporary since the turn of the century, but it also created sightline issues due to its bulkiness in the sanctuary.
“There wasn’t a high-enough ceiling or proscenium for a true line array system, and a point-source system wasn’t going to cut it there, either,” says Pearson on considering replacement options.
What did work, he says, was a system comprising two L-Acoustics ARCS Wide and one ARCS Focus per side for a flown system that flanks a four-box center horizontal array of four SB18i subwoofers. A pair of coaxial 12XT enclosures is used as monitors for the stage, and all of the L-Acoustics speakers are powered via three LA4X amplified controllers, which are also the primary DSP engines for the system.
Pearson says the ARCS WiFo system perfectly met the particular needs of this church: WiFo’s compact form factor allowed it to be flown without impinging on sightlines from any seat, and its precise coverage capability enabled CCI Solutions to design a system that conforms exactly to the sanctuary’s seating.
“This is a converted gym, so there are hard surfaces on the floor and ceiling,” he explains. “The WiFo let us fly the system but still keep the energy off of those reflective surfaces, preserving the clarity of both the music and message.”
And just as important, according to Pearson, is the system’s reputation for reliability. “The WiFo has become our first choice for mid-sized houses of worship like this one,” he says. “The results—the sound and the performance—are always great.”
