The church's loudspeakers must be replaced. Seriously, those ten-year old speakers need to go. The audio quality now available sounds far superior to the ancient speakers hanging in the sanctuary. Here's why you should consider the new Community's new I Series speakers.
The new I Series is missing something and its absence is appreciated. Much effort goes into designing an attractive sanctuary and every detail matters. Imagine a loud speaker that contributes to the aesthetics of the sanctuary. Community designed these speakers without a front grill logo and with discreet mounting hardware. A turn of a few catalog pages shows grill logos are commonplace. The closer the speakers are to the congregation, the more such a small detail makes a difference to the aesthetic feel of the room.
The clean appearance of the I Series continues through to the paint and housing material. The Baltic birch cabinets come in textured low-gloss black or white with edge-to-edge wrap-around fabric-backed powder-coated steel grilles. Honestly, they are the nicest looking speakers I've seen. Combined with the absence of a grill logo, audio techs won't have to hear, “Those speakers really standout out in the sanctuary.”
Furthering the clean appearance, Community uses discreet low-profile mounting hardware, keeping brackets hidden. The hardware works with any combination of their twenty-one I Series speakers and minimizes the number of required suspension cables.
Appearance isn't everything and Community brings the goods through technology that claims to produce sound with a smooth response, high intelligibility, low distortion, and minimal power compression. This is important for church audio systems where the name of the game is multi-purpose sound reinforcement. Additionally, the I Series comes in several shapes and sizes, from floor monitors to loudspeakers to subwoofers.
Community brings the goods through technology that claims to produce sound with a smooth response, high intelligibility, low distortion, and minimal power compression.
The loudspeakers are available in both the two-way and the three-way design. Two-way models have large-format compression drivers, a choice of six rotatable horns and individually-voiced, beamwidth-matched crossovers with single or biamp operation.
The IP6-1122 model, a medium power 12-inch two-way loudspeaker, has a range of 42 Hz to 20 kHz and max outputs of 122 dB with a 128 dB peak. Beamwidth varies based on the selected configuration.
The three-way loudspeaker models offer three rotatable horn patterns and a choice of biamp or triamp operation. Community uses a combination of a large-format HF compression driver and their own M200HP midrange compression driver for obtaining a uniform sound quality.
The IP8-1153 model, a high power 15-inch three-way loudspeaker, has a range of 30 Hz to 20 kHz and max outputs of 132 dB for the mids and highs and 123 dB for the lows. The beamwidth of each speaker within the enclosure varies, with the low end at 60-degrees (horizontal) by 40 degrees (vertical), the mid-range at 60-degrees by 60-degrees and the highs at 90-degrees by 40-degrees.
The loudspeakers are available in two levels, the Point Source 600 and the Point Source 800. The high level 800-level offer neodymium drivers while the medium power 600-level uses large-format ferrite drivers.
The subwoofers come in both the high-power and medium-power levels simply called the Subwoofer 600 and Subwoofer 800 levels, both levels include the single and dual subwoofers. The IS8-218 is a dual subwoofer with two 18-inch cones and a frequency reproduction rage of 25 Hz to 150 Hz. It's able to run constant at 136 dB and peak at 142 dB.
Community offers weather resistant versions of the I Series so they can be used outside – and from what I've heard at outdoor events, this would be a welcome addition for many churches.
The range of loudspeakers and subwoofers in the I Series could make it ideal for upgrading multiple venues for a consistent sound. Wouldn't it be nice to work the youth venue and know it's got the same quality speakers as the main sanctuary? Enough of the hand-me-downs!
The Community I Series loudspeakers are worth consideration for a new small or medium-sized sanctuary, a new youth center, or a system upgrade. Community has packed a lot into their new line of floor monitors, subwoofers and loudspeakers with selectable horn selection and amp configurations that enable church audio engineers to configure a speaker system that fits their precise needs. They also look great.
The loudspeakers hanging in your sanctuary sounded great when installed ten years ago. Speaker technology and speaker quality has changed tremendously in that time. Give a listen to your house speakers and then compare them to speakers built today, including the Community I Series loudspeakers. New speakers could bring the biggest improvement you've ever heard in a long time.
