Church on the Queensway, a prominent Toronto church that is well known in the greater Ontario region, has installed a d&b audiotechnik SL-Series XSL line array system. Designed and integrated by Soundbox, a full-service audiovisual provider, the comprehensive upgrade also includes KSLi-SUB subwoofers and Y-Series and 10S-D Series point source enclosures.
Church on the Queensway is a large house of worship, seating approximately 3,000 parishioners and an aged sound system was no longer meeting the needs of Sunday services, Christmas and Easter Theatrical productions which have been described as “Broadway-level,” or top touring Christian acts who frequently perform at the Church.
"Our old system was point source. It needed to throw audio over 100 feet to reach the entire room and balcony, which resulted in inconsistent coverage and poor intelligibility in some areas," explains Queensway Technical & Media Director René Barrow. "We found ourselves blasting the people in the front to reach those in the balcony. This wasn’t ideal. Add to that, intelligibility declined in the mid to upper areas of the of the balcony which was particularly troubling with speaking events.”
“My objectives for the upgrade were to even out coverage throughout the space, improve vocal intelligibility in the balconies, and to provide a rider-ready system,” says Barrow. “Our new solution also needed to provide remote monitoring capabilities, be physically light enough to address load concerns, and not cause line of sight issues for the projection screens."
"Believe it or not, this d&b audiotechnik installation started all the way back in 2002, when I first heard the brand at the PLASA live event technology trade show in England," shares Barrow. "At that event I listened to various PA systems from known and unknown brands but when I came across the d&b Audiotechnik booth what I heard was noticeably different. I was very impressed. I've have dreamed to work with d&b ever since. With this upgrade the time had finally come, but I still needed to do my due diligence."
Barrow contacted Soundbox, a long-time partner of Church on the Queensway. Gerben Vanden Heuvel, Soundbox's senior sales and designer for installs, arranged a shoot-out between the recommended replacement loudspeaker system by the current manufacturer and a d&b XSL system with KSL subs. "It wasn't a slight difference; sonically d&b was the obvious choice," Barrow notes. "Plus, the boxes were lighter, the hang wouldn't impede screen viewing, and it allowed for easy remote monitoring via their R1 software. d&b ticked all the right boxes and that was the game changer for me."
"Since the church has no downtime and has service every Sunday, we meticulously planned for a rapid installation," said Gerben. "We hit the ground running on Monday morning, ripped the old system out, put the new system in, and tested and tuned in time for Sunday. With the designs from d&b's ArrayCalc, we knew where every box needed to go and the angles that needed to be set. d&b's easy rigging hardware made flying the new system a breeze. And then the ability to pull the ArrayCalc settings into ArrayProcessing made the initial tuning surprisingly fast, taking just an hour and 45 minutes. Everything worked beautifully."
Most importantly Barrow says, the d&b system solved the coverage problem for the congregation. "No matter where they are in the room, everyone loves the way it sounds," shares Barrow. "Even all the way up in the back of the balcony, it now feels like you're listening in the room and not outside the room. You can hear everything, and it doesn't have to be loud."
The pattern control and full-bandwidth cardioid technology found in the XSL line arrays and KSL-SUB subwoofers also solved critical problems for the church's high-level theatrical presentations. "The church often has 20 or more performers with wireless headsets on stage," adds Gerben. "The rear-rejection behind the PA is just mind blowing. They can now have performances with much higher gain before feedback and the performers all think it's incredible how much quieter the stage is."
The new d&b SL-Series system has also been well received by visiting ministries and musicians "Not long after the installation, we baptized our new d&b rig by putting it through its paces with the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, who held a massive concert and speaking engagement," shares Barrow. "Our Church Worship Band, The Afters, and TAYA (of Elevation Worship projects) all performed. Our new d&b audiotechnik system sounded beautiful, capable, powerful, and clean."
"I love it," concludes Barrow. "Vocals sound crisp, clean and natural, and it’s the same for instruments. It all just takes less processing for everything to sound big and beautiful."
About The System Configuration
The comprehensive d&b audiotechnik system installed by Soundbox at Church on the Queensway includes 4 x XSLi12 and 12 x XSLi8 flown as left/right line arrays, 8 boxes per side, with 4 x KSLi-SUB subwoofers arranged as a center cluster, and 1 x Yi10P point source loudspeakers placed as a center fill beneath the subwoofers. An additional 2 x Yi10P are utilized as left and right balcony side fills and 2 x 10S-D point source loudspeakers are installed as balcony delays. The entire system is powered with 12 x 40D amplifiers with ArrayProcessing.
