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"To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much out of these small, lightweight boxes. However, this system surprised me."
In the world of church production, there is no more important, or to put it a better way, “unable to fail” system, than the audio system. As a former pastor of mine says, “If the congregation can’t hear (and understand) the teaching, what’s the point?” So, as the audio director at my church, my goal is to find the best possible audio system components I can with the resources I have. Whether it’s a specific headset mic for the speaking pastor or a loudspeaker system for an auditorium, I want to ensure that the message gets across clearly and without distraction. That said, let’s look at the HK Audio Elements loudspeaker rig. The HK Audio brand is no newcomer to the loudspeaker industry, though they are new to the North American market. HK Audio is a 20-year-old company based in Germany that has a pedigree of developing concert-level touring systems—a passion that remains today, even though their offerings now include loudspeakers for installed sound systems and smaller portable systems, including the pole-mounted Elements portable systems.
When the shipment first arrived at our church, I was a little overwhelmed by the 22 boxes sitting in our shipping room, but after unpacking, I realized the Elements system is really quite elegant and simple. There are only three types of loudspeakers, and a total of six different components to the entire Elements system. There is a mid/high box, an amplifier, a powered sub-woofer, an unpowered sub-woofer, a mounting pole and a floor stand. All these parts are used to create systems that are scalable depending on the event. If you have a small room with just a few people speaking, you can bring two subs, the mounting poles and two mid/high boxes. If you have a jazz band outside, with a deep seating area, you can bring four subs, two amps and eight mid/high boxes, which configure into a six-foot line array. If you have a large room with a full rock band, you can bring eight subs, two amps and eight mid/high boxes. During my review time I was able to use this system in all three of these configurations. However, you can customize your system to your situation. HK Audio says there are 44 “officially recognized” systems.
Digging Deeper
Two of the Element components are so visually similar, it was initially a bit confusing. The E435 mid-/high-frequency box contains four 3.5-inch drivers in a line array, and is nearly identical to the EA600 power amp module that delivers up to 600 watts at four ohms and weighs just 6.1 pounds. HK Audio says this is done so that the integration of the amp as the base of up to four High/Mid units is completely discrete. In other words, aesthetically they “match.” The E435 mid/high box weighs just 5.2 pounds and offers a frequency response of 140 Hz-20,000 Hz (-10 dB) and 70-degree horizontal dispersion. Vertical dispersion depends on how many elements are included in the column. The EA600 power amp can drive up to four E435 mid/high boxes, or two E435s and two E110 Sub single 10-inch subwoofers. An E110 Sub A powered subwoofer is also available, which contains the same amp configuration as the EA600. Both the powered and unpowered subs offer frequency response of 45 Hz–150 Hz. The unpowered version weighs 36.4 pounds, and the powered version weighs in at just 41.9 pounds.
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BRAD DORAN is a husband, father of two, and is the audio and lighting systems director at Grace Community Church in Noblesville, Ind. In his spare time, he enjoys talking and learning from others involved in production ministries.
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