Riedel StageLink gives churches a way to expand intercom capability without ripping out the infrastructure they already have.
For many churches, intercom upgrades are not as simple as buying a new wireless system and starting over.
Years of analog infrastructure may already be built into the room. Camera positions, production booths, backstage areas, and technical spaces may all depend on the existing two-wire partyline intercom. The system may not be modern, but it works. The problem is what happens when the church needs to expand beyond it.
That is where Riedel’s StageLink NSA-003A enters the conversation.
At Simple Church in Bossier City, Louisiana, Kevin Stevenson, a contract technical director who works with multiple churches in Northeast Louisiana, evaluated Riedel’s StageLink NSA-003A alongside Riedel’s Bolero wireless intercom system. Simple Church provided the kind of environment where communication matters. The church seats about 1,200 people, runs seven to eight cameras on Sunday mornings, and uses a highly mobile production style with operators moving on tripods, shoulder rigs, and crane positions.
The real value of StageLink is not complexity. It is making old and new intercom systems work together.
For Stevenson, the value of StageLink is straightforward. It allows a church with an existing analog intercom system to connect that older infrastructure to newer digital or wireless intercom workflows.
“If you’re a church that has an analog two-wire system or just an analog intercom system and you want to keep it and add wireless to that, I think the StageLink box will make that happen,” Stevenson says.
Riedel describes the StageLink family as compact, rugged I/O devices designed for decentralized signal distribution over standard IP networks. The NSA-003A is specifically a dual-partyline two-wire audio interface that integrates third-party legacy two-wire partylines into Riedel Artist and Bolero systems via SMPTE 2110. It includes two-wire analog intercom support with auto echo cancelling, two Clear-Com/RTS-compatible two-wire ports, stereo USB audio I/O and GPIO connectivity.
In church-production terms, that means StageLink can let a church preserve what is already working while adding the flexibility of a more modern intercom system.
“Instead of ripping out everything that’s already there, you purchase an interface box like this, and it allows you to connect the old technology with new technology,” Stevenson says.
For the Simple Church evaluation, StageLink was paired with Riedel’s Bolero wireless intercom. Bolero is Riedel’s high-end wireless intercom platform, with six-key beltpacks, full-duplex operation, Riedel’s ADR receiver technology, Bluetooth support, NFC registration, and the ability to scale into larger productions with multiple antennas and beltpacks.
But the point of the evaluation was not simply that Bolero is powerful. It was whether StageLink could make the connection between an existing church intercom environment and Bolero feel practical.
According to Stevenson, it did.
“When it comes to connecting the StageLink device to the Bolero system, it was simply plugging in two cables, one side’s analog, one side’s digital,” he says. “It was a very straightforward process. We didn’t have to overthink it, and it just worked.”
For Stevenson, the best thing about the StageLink setup was simple: they did not have to overthink it.
Stevenson summarizes the setup even more directly: “We found interfacing the church’s analog system with Bolero’s wireless system practically a cakewalk with the 003A.”
That simplicity matters because church production teams are often trying to modernize in stages. A complete replacement may not be realistic, affordable or even necessary. In some cases, front of house, monitor world, or broadcast audio may still benefit from hardline communication, while camera operators, stage managers, or roaming production staff need the freedom of wireless.
StageLink gives those two worlds a way to talk to each other.
The physical format also helps. Stevenson noted that the NSA-003A is low profile and does not demand much rack space.
“It’s low profile, fits into a rack space, half rack space just fine,” he says. “So it’s not going to take up any more real estate. I think you’re going to find that plugging it in and making it work is straightforward.”
Once the system was running, Bolero’s wireless performance became the next test. Simple Church is not a quiet RF environment. The room includes video systems, wireless microphones, instruments and other electronics. The production itself is dynamic, with camera operators constantly moving through the room during three Sunday services.
Stevenson says that kind of environment leaves little room for communication problems.
“Oftentimes when you walk into a venue, you have to do an RF check to make sure your wireless, whether it be your intercom system, your microphones—everybody knows this—that RF can be complicated and get interfered with,” he says. “So it’s critical that your intercom system works.”
During the evaluation, he says the system held up.
“We didn’t have any trouble at all, no matter where we set up our intercom system,” Stevenson says. “We didn’t have any interference at all.”
Asked how the intercoms performed, his answer was simple: “The intercoms performed flawlessly.”
Clarity was another major takeaway. For Stevenson, intercom either works or it does not. In a live production environment, especially with moving cameras, the most important test is whether operators can understand direction when the moment matters.
“The biggest thing that I have found over and over again is clarity, period,” he says. “Does it work at a certain distance? Can I understand what my director’s telling me? And can I communicate back if there’s a problem or a question I need to ask? This checks every box for that.”
The Bolero beltpacks also made a strong impression. Stevenson described them as customizable, robust, and comfortable, with impressive range and headsets that helped isolate users from crowd noise and PA spill. Riedel describes the standard Bolero beltpack as offering up to six full-duplex keys, a reply button, Bluetooth connectivity, NFC registration, and integrated microphone/speaker operation.
Still, for churches, the bigger question may not be whether Bolero is impressive. It is. The bigger question is how to move from older infrastructure into a more modern communication workflow without making the upgrade unnecessarily disruptive.
That is why StageLink is the important part of the story.
The StageLink NSA-003A does not ask a church to abandon every part of its existing intercom investment. It provides a bridge. For churches with analog two-wire intercom that still has value, StageLink creates a path toward wireless expansion, digital routing and higher-end intercom performance.
During the evaluation, Stevenson says the church’s existing communication environment and the Riedel system operated side by side without drama.
“There were no conflicts, there were no uh-ohs, there was no issue with integrating the two,” he says.
For production teams trying to modernize without starting from zero, that may be the real win.
StageLink is not about replacing everything. It is about making the old system useful in a new workflow.
