Bose boosts broadcast at World Revival Church
Published: WORSHIP
WORLD: Kansas City’s 1,000-seat World Revival Church recently upgraded its sound system with components from Bose Professional Systems Division. The house of worship facility ministers to a live congregation and broadcasts services globally, and installed Bose RoomMatch loudspeakers and PowerMatch amplifiers for its weekly services.
Ten years ago, World Revival moved from its original meeting house to its current auditorium, and boasting stage space for a full band, professional lighting rigs and multimedia capabilities. Soon after, the church began live streaming its weekly services on the web, expanding its reach around the globe. Over time, however, it became clear that, while the size of World Revival’s new home was adequate, the sound was not.
‘Our church is different,’ commented Steve Gray, World Revival’s senior pastor. ‘There’s a lot of enthusiasm, and in some ways it’s almost a stadium experience.’
‘We like a pretty good amount of volume in our worship,’ added William Gilpin, World Revival’s church manager.
Mr Gilpin contacted Steven Brown, system design and sales at Progressive Electronics, for a consultation. ‘Loudspeaker coverage in the space was spotty,’ he assessed. ‘There were areas that were abrasive, and other areas that were soft. Nobody was getting the same kind of sound in the space anywhere.’
Mr Brown had recently heard a demonstration of Bose RoomMatch loudspeakers. ‘I thought with this product, Bose had knocked it out of the park,’ he enthused. ‘I was absolutely, totally inspired.’ Mr Brown promptly scheduled a demonstration for Mr Gilpin and Mr Gray, who agreed that it was the right choice for their needs.
Mr Brown brought in Bose sales and field engineering resources to work closely with him when designing and commissioning the system. ‘The support from Bose is unmatched by most of the manufacturers I work with,’ he said. ‘They’re not just selling product. They’re selling solutions.’
After exploring World Revival’s space, Mr Brown and his team recommended the Bose system, comprised of three RoomMatch array clusters made up of 14 RoomMatch loudspeakers, four RM5505s, two RM7005s, two RM7010s, two RM7020s, two RM9010s, two RM9020s and four RMS215 subwoofers. These are driven by seven PowerMatch PM8500N amplifiers programmed with Bose ControlSpace ESP digital signal processing.
‘RoomMatch gives you great directivity,’ said Nathan York, design engineer, Progressive Electronics. ‘Everything just blends perfectly. ‘As for the amps, they have eight channels and almost limitless possibilities of what you can do with them. It would be my go-to amplifier in almost any scenario.’
‘People can sit anywhere in the room and it is good,’ said Mr Gilpin. ‘The sound is full and loud,’ added Mr Gray, ‘but somebody can talk to you at the same time. You can be right underneath it and still have good fidelity.’
‘Everybody seemed ecstatic that first night,’ concurred Dustin Smith, worship leader/music director. ‘You could hear the low end and you could hear the highs.’
Immediately after the first broadcast, listeners from all over the world called World Revival to ask how they improved the audio quality. ‘What we’re doing here works for us,’ concluded Mr Gray. ‘It touches thousands of people around the world.’