Gateway to good sound with Meyer
Published: WORSHIP
US: With weekly worship attendance nearing 20,000 across three sites in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Gateway Church ranks as one of the fastest-growing congregations in the US. Having outgrown its original main campus in Southlake, Texas, Gateway has opened a new facility with a 4,000-seat sanctuary at the heart of it, equipped with cutting-edge technical facilities including a powerful reinforcement system based on Meyer Sound Milo line array loudspeakers.
Dallas-based consulting firm Acoustic Dimensions was given responsibility for an integrated design incorporating architectural acoustics, audio, video, lighting, theatrical rigging and broadcast facilities. For the design of the sound reinforcement systems, the company collaborated with Mike Walker of the 709 Agency, also in Southlake, as well as Meyer Sound Design Services.
Aware that client involvement was important for long-term satisfaction, early on Acoustic Dimensions staged a listening session at an area theatre, inviting church technical staff to compare loudspeakers from different makers. ‘I brought all our engineers, and we played our senior pastor’s voice plus all kinds of music,’ recalled David Leuschner, Gateway's executive director of technical arts. ‘In the end, Meyer was our consensus choice.’
As completed, the main auditorium system covers most of the expansive seating area with three arrays of nine Milo loudspeakers each, with bass augmented by 14 700-HP subwoofers. Sidefill (upper and lower), frontfill, effects, under-balcony and over-balcony coverage is supplied by 54 Meyer Sound loudspeakers that include MSL-4, CQ-1, UPQ-1P, DF-4 downfill, UPJ-1P and UPJunior VariO loudspeakers. In addition, seven UPJunior loudspeakers are flown overhead as stage monitors, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system provides drive and signal optimisation.
'My long experience with Meyer really sold me on their products,’ added Mr Leuschner. ‘In my opinion their systems have the cleanest sound to the human ear. They can be deceptive, because you can run them loud, but people don’t complain about it being too loud because there’s no distortion.’ To maintain consistent quality, 12 other UPJunior loudspeakers are at work in five classrooms on the campus. ‘From speech to music, in a big room or a small room, the Meyer boxes deliver sound that works for us,’ said Mr Leuschner.