Tannoy’s VQ Series delivers in new Guatemalan church
Published: WORSHIP
WORLD: A Tannoy VQ Series system has been installed into the recently opened Casa de Dios church in Guatemala, which boats space for a congregation of over 12,000 in the main hall.
This structure is the latest achievement for Pastor Cash Luna and his followers, with years of careful planning and fundraising finally giving them a new home. Michael Garrison Associates (MGA) was Pastor Luna’s chosen partner for the A/V and lighting installation, working with the architect from the initial stages, adapting the overall design to accommodate a system that would cope with all that was required.
Michael Garrison, head of MGA turned to Tannoy for a solution for the HOW. ‘We were very surprised to find that, in the computer modelling, the Tannoy VQ system – an exploded cluster for the main and two delay rings of satellite delay speakers – actually exceeded the max sound level of the very fine line array system, and with much smoother coverage,’ he said. ‘Using VQ instead of a line array saved this project something in the region of $500,000.’
With assistance from Graham Hendry, VP of TC Group’s Applications Engineering and Support division, the team at MGA designed and installed a system that is unique to the space, but one that also considers aspects such as line of sight and aesthetics as well as the general acoustics.
‘It’s a serious sized venue; to have sightlines maintained front to back and have concert levels at the same time is a feat in itself,’ said Mr Hendry. ‘Casa de Dios has a very well distributed point source system utilizing VQ product. While it’s a house of worship, in essence, this is a performance install system, but it will achieve everything that a touring system does, and then some.’
‘We’ve used the VQ system a number of times and had really good success with it, and it’s a pleasant system to work with, lots of horse power behind it and a really high fidelity sound,’ commented Steve Shewlakow, MGA’s senior A/V designer for this project. ‘There is effectively one main exploded array flown above the stage consisting of five sources. Having such defined pattern control, the VQ60 makes the horizontal coverage seamless; as a point source the vertical dispersion is perfectly consistent and not hampered by vertical inconsistencies inherent with line array; especially at high frequencies.
‘There are two further delay rows consisting of VQ60s which will allow zoning to accommodate smaller congregations. There’s also a main LF array that consists of 18 VNET 218DRs and nine of the VNET 215HLs, and then a supplemental five-position delay zone with three VNET218DRs in each zone in a cardioid array. There’s also two subs on the ground that act as warmers and front fills.’
‘With the help of Tannoy, Graham Hendry and other people, we came up with a three wide array that is nine boxes tall, so a total of 27 boxes, 218s on the outside and the centre is 215 boxes for the main LF subwoofer array,’ said Mr Garrison. ‘We also have an additional delay ring with five positions with three double 18s each. It comes to around 42 subwoofer devices in the room, and it’s pretty amazing.’
‘I am very proud to be part of this,’ said Eddy Cano, MGA’s director of Latin America operations. ‘There are no words to describe what this is going to do for our economy and for our tourism. There’s going to be a lot of “good” heard and seen in this place. One of the things that Pastor Cash talks about all the time is that people come to church to hear and to see, and churches around the world should strive to make sure its congregation should hear and see well. This is the word of God that is being taught in this place, and it has to be a clear message. Tannoy is helping to deliver that.’
For the full story on this installation from the latest issue of Worship AVL Asia , click here.