DAS solution for Metro South Church
Published: WORSHIP
WORLD: GC Pro recently designed and installed a DAS Audio sound reinforcement system into the 1,500-capacity Metro South Church in Detroit, US. After careful evaluation, the church invested in the manufacturer’s Aero Series.
Working in conjunction with Guitar Center sales associate Paul Long and DAS Audio regional sales manager Steve Trimble, GC Pro account manager Paul Johnson oversaw the project. The main system comprises a sizeable amount of Aero 12A powered two-way, mid-high line array modules along with LX-215A and LX-218CA sub bass enclosures.
After coordinating three product demonstrations, the decision was made to go with the DAS equipment. ‘Metro South Church is a very modern organisation with a contemporary worship experience that really engages the congregation,’ explained Mr Johnson.
‘Music plays a vital role in their worship services because it’s a great way to be relevant to their congregants. They have a praise band – Alive – that reaches out to many high school students. The sanctuary is approximately 38m wide by 38m deep, has a 7m high ceiling and seats roughly 850 people, so it’s not a small space. In order to deliver a high level of speech intelligibility and first-rate music reproduction capability, we determined that a line array system augmented by multiple subwoofers would be the most effective means of providing coverage.’
The house mains for Metro South Church’s new sound system consist of a left – centre – right loudspeaker configuration. The system comprises 15 Audio Aero 12A enclosures, with six elements each on the left and right hangs and a centre fill cluster made up of three modules. Low frequency support is provided by a combination of two LX-215A powered band-pass subwoofers and eight LX-218CA high performance powered subs. ‘We stacked the subs on both sides of the stage, and this was done in a cardioid setup with some sub enclosures turned around in order to reduce standing bass on the stage,’ Mr Johnson said.
‘Our client was looking for a system that delivered incredible sound and presented a clean, unobstructed view of the stage area so as not to be distracting,’ he stated. ‘Given the self-powered nature of the DAS system, we were able to accomplish this at a very competitive price point. By going with a self-powered system we eliminated the requirement of having to house a rack of power amps, and since the power is integral to the enclosures, it’s optimised for each loudspeaker model.’ As a result, each of the three loudspeaker clusters were able to run on a single 15-amp circuit.
‘DAS was very patient with what turned out to be a somewhat time-consuming project,’ he admitted. ‘We actually started system demonstrations during the construction phase. In an unprecedented move, DAS sent us the entire system and allowed us to keep it on site for three full demos during different stages of the build out. This was key to closing the sale. In the end, they flew in Ramon Franco, their systems specialist, and tuned the room so we could have the most accurate representation of the system. Both the client and all of us at GC Pro were very impressed.’
Mr Johnson stated that ‘church management is very happy with the new system. Everyone we’ve spoken with believes they now have one of the best sounding worship services in Michigan. They are very proud of their new DAS system, and equally important – DAS has become a valued business partner. I expect to be working with them for many jobs to come. It was an overall pleasure, and I’m glad to have had the experience,’ he enthused.