Described by attendees as "a great place to worship," Oakland Baptist Church (www.oaklandbaptist.org) services are both lively and fun—with messages that challenge and inspire. As part of a new youth facility, the church has installed a sound reinforcement (SR) system—drawn from the Vantec catalog of Valencia, Spain based DAS Audio.
Sutherland Sight and Sound of Florence, Alabama, a full-service design / build AV integrator, was contracted to handle the installation of the new DAS sound system at Oakland Baptist Church. After consulting with church leadership, Michael Embry, Sutherland Sight and Sound’s Project Manager, ultimately penned a system consisting of DAS Audio Vantec-20A Active Curved Source Line Array enclosures along with Vantec-218A powered subwoofers. Embry discusses the project.
“The youth facility at Oakland Baptist Church measures 60 feet long by 62 feet wide,” Embry reports. “The stage area is 20 feet long by 27 feet wide and faces into the width of the room. Seating capacity is roughly 300 people, and the seats are moveable—making it easier to adapt the space to different event requirements, since it is frequently used for various gatherings and special events in addition to the weekly church services. As for the church services, there is a considerable amount of music, so the system had to provide both noticeably clear speech and excellent music reproduction capabilities.”
The new SR system at Oakland Baptist Church includes six Vantec-20A line array loudspeakers—flown three enclosures each for the left and right hangs, which are suspended over the front edges of the stage area. Low frequency support is provided by a pair of Vantec-218A powered subwoofers, with one enclosure each positioned on the floor for the left and right sides.
When asked about those Vantec Series attributes that made these loudspeakers his choice for the Oakland Baptist Church project, Embry said, “Sound quality is, obviously, the most important requisite and, in this regard, the Vantec-20A is a very well-designed loudspeaker. It provides a high level of speech intelligibility while also having solid music reproduction capabilities—all while having a compact form factor that never distracts the audience’s attention. I was also impressed with the system’s easy wireless control for gain shading, along with the quick and clean linear response that results in a very natural sound utilizing FIR filters. The power efficiency of the system is excellent, and the hardware makes rigging the system much easier than many competing products.”
“I should also point out that, originally, we had planned on using a few fill speakers as part of the system,” Embry adds “After we tuned the room, however, we found that the position of the flown clusters in the layout of the room made this unnecessary. The Vantec-20A’s dispersion provided all the coverage that was necessary.”
Embry is complimentary of the customer support he received from the DAS Audio office in Miami, Florida. “We’ve had fantastic service in our dealings with DAS, he says. “If there is ever a question, we can either get immediate support via a phone conversation, or they reach back out to us very quickly. In a world where proper customer service is a dying trade, DAS Audio’s support is very much appreciated. Further, Clay Hughes, the church’s technician, was extremely helpful. His knowledge and experience of the room and the church’s use was most appreciated as we worked to bring this project to completion.”
The DAS Audio installation at Oakland Baptist Church was initiated in June 2020 and the new SR system was placed into service later that year. Since then, Hughes says the DAS Audio equipment has been very well received. “This system installation has been a huge success. The audio quality is first-rate no matter where you happen to be seated in the room. The spoken word is remarkably clear, and this enables the congregation to fully grasp the nature of the sermon. Likewise, the system’s ability to reproduce music is equally impressive. The end result is that the DAS equipment makes services much more engaging and meaningful. I’d also like to say ‘thank you’ to the entire team at Sutherland Sight and Sound. They were great to work with, always open to suggestions and, ultimately, they delivered a sound system that will serve this church well for many years to come.”
To learn more about Sutherland Sight and Sound, visit the company online at www.sutherlandsound.com.
