Life Center Ministries in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has continued to expand since its formation in 1978 as Word Fellowship. In 1999, the congregation moved into a spacious industrial building, a former AMP Corporation showroom. So, perfect was the space that a close friend of the church declared that God was giving them an AMP and that their sound would be AMPlified – a prophesy that could not be more accurate.
In 2015 Clair Brothers stepped in performing minor upgrades to amplifiers and mixing consoles. Now Life Center is growing again, constructing a new balcony within its AMP space to accommodate even more new attendees. The church has been using the same PA for fifteen years, waiting to evaluate needs with regard to the architectural addition of the balcony under a twenty-three-foot bar joist ceiling. Clair Brothers understood the height limitation would require a strategic approach to the expansion of the sound system. Initially budget was a concern. The church did due diligence by consulting with several installers and audio production companies. But after several live demonstrations, Clair Brothers’ experience and recommendation to upgrade to a larger PA system won out. CJ Stimpel, chief audio engineer for Life Center, explains, “The final decision to go with the C12 system was easy for two reasons: The mid-range detail/horsepower (we love guitars) and the price!”
Receiving the green light from Life Center represents a milestone for Clair Brothers – the company’s first domestic install of their new C12 speakers. The heart of the upgraded system, the main PA, consists of six C12 cabinets on each side of the main stage. The center cluster has three C8 cabinets with a cardioid subwoofer array consisting of eight CS218s. The outfills near the front of the church are positioned on the left and right side covered by an S2-CX. For the balcony, fills are all kiT12s. The whole system is powered with the Clair Brothers/Lab.gruppen D Series; all driven by Dante with AES back up. “It’s a major upgrade in PA technology for Life Center Ministries,” says Stimpel. “The sound is so well-balanced no matter where you sit in the room – on the main floor or up in the new balcony – people love it. We love it! Each component in the box really does compliment the other and there is a very distinct sound that comes from that. Our sound at Life Center really requires the rig to have the horsepower across the full range for those big moments but then needs to turn over to a sensitive, low-feedback system for headworn jaw and handheld condenser mics on a thrust – and this cabinet does that.”
