THE MOST BANG UNDER BUDGET

Jan 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By Cal Perkins

In almost every article I have read in trade publications about installed church sound systems, the size of the system suggests that the budget for the materials and labor is in excess of most people's annual compensation. Each house of worship has its own unique sound system requirements that depend on the congregation's style of worship and the building architecture. In this article, I'll focus on the requirements for the smaller church congregations of up to 500 people. Specifically, I'll concentrate on good systems that can be purchased and installed for a cost of between $1,800 and $10,000.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER

In the U.S., the average congregation size ranges from 100 to about 200 people, depending on denomination and geographic location. In most of these small congregations, as well as in new church startups, the sound system budget can be somewhat limited. In fact, most of the small church business is invisible to the average sound contractor. Why?

Several years ago, a rather comprehensive national market survey sponsored by a major equipment manufacturer was done on the small P.A. market. A surprising discovery of the survey was that almost all first-time purchases of small systems are made at the retail level and that retail music stores are unaware of the volume of business they sell into the institution market. The median street price for an “acceptable” entry-level P.A. system that includes two microphones, mic stands, power mixer and two 15-inch, 2-way speakers is around $1,700. When this equipment fails to meet the expectations of the users, or technical problems arise that are beyond the scope of the users, either a contractor or a repair technician is sought out to resolve the problems. Unfortunately, this places the contractor in the awkward position of having to deliver the bad news that the cheap-system solution really isn't a solution at all.

An interesting side note of the extensive market survey was that after the “recommended” entry-level system was purchased by the market research firm and used over a period of time for various applications, it was obvious to all involved that an upgrade was necessary.

How can you, as a contractor, circumvent the aforementioned scenario? The secret is to know your market and its requirements. A good way to gather information is to attend the weekend services at local houses of worship and see for yourself.

BASIC EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS

Each faith and/or denomination has its own style of worship and church government (who signs the checks). Regardless of denomination and style of worship, one thing is common: the spoken word. From there, there is a wide divergence of worship styles and requirements, and herein lies the technical and political challenge. A good example of such diversity can be seen in comparing the musical requirements of a conservative, mainline congregation with that of a southern gospel church. Equally diverse are the styles and loudness of traditional and contemporary services. Style and loudness are important issues. A budget sound system that runs out of headroom, distorts easily and has a skewed spectral balance only exacerbates the problem of “it's too loud!” Ideally, the system should handle any type of service within a limited budget.

Starting with a basic thumbnail sketch at the input side of the system, one will need one or more microphones, a cassette recorder and a CD player. Allow about $150 for the CD player and cassette recorder (a good duplication cassette deck runs about $300).

In most applications the vocal and instrument microphones are standard dynamic. Choir pickup is usually best covered by condenser microphones, and the clergy may prefer small lavalier (tie-clip) microphones for freedom of movement. If the budget allows, a wireless system will set the pastor free. However, the small cables and connectors used in the lavalier microphones for both wired and wireless operation are maintenance hassles as the cables are always breaking at either the microphone end or the connector end. The old adage, “he who has spares has no cares,” applies to mini-mics. Plan on budgeting at least $75 to $150 per dynamic microphone, $200 to $500 for good condenser microphones and $500 to $1000 for a versatile wireless system.

Since it is highly unlikely that the budget will allow for professional cassette decks or CD players, many houses of worship will end up purchasing consumer grade units. Often, the congregational members will want a tape of a particular service, so it would be advisable to get at least one duplicating cassette deck. Because of the tape recorder monitoring loop, it is good advice to buy two decks and avoid any possibility of feedback within the mixing console due to operator ignorance or error. One deck should be dedicated for playback only, the other for recording only, thus making it impossible to send the system off into ultrasonic feedback that will result in either blowing up the power amplifiers or the high-frequency drivers.

Mixer Requirements. First, to best determine the number of microphone input channels that will be needed, let's review some of the possibilities. In order of relative importance we have:

	Source	No. of Mic Inputs
1.	Prayer leader	1
2.	Chancel	1-2
3.	Hand Held Vocal	2-4
4.	Choir	2-5
5.	Musical Instruments	2-5
6.	Roving congregational	0-4

As you can see, a mixer with eight microphone inputs does not allow for much in the way of expansion, but it will handle the minimum requirements if there are additional line-level inputs present. At the other extreme, we are looking at 24 microphone input channels to handle everything.

Second are the stereo line-level input requirements. Since music is an integral part of many worship services, stereo playback for both cassettes and CDs are frequently used. It is quite common in a service for a member to sing along with a pre-recorded instrumental background. The stereo input requirements are one each of the following: stereo cassette, CD Player, keyboard input, and a stereo video input.

If one doesn't mind unplugging equipment, only one stereo input is needed, but for convenience two or more is preferable.

Third is the number of auxiliary sends per channel for monitoring and signal-processing effects. Typically, the “Auxiliary Send” mix has the signal routed off pre-fader, while the “Effects Send” operates post-fader. Basic requirements are 1 to 2 sends/inserts/returns (effects for signal processing) and 1 to 6 sends (monitor mix). The bare minimum requirement is one effects channel and one auxiliary channel send.

Fourth, the mixer should have both left and right RCA tape outputs for recording the service and, preferably, balanced stereo outputs and a balanced mono output. These requirements can be filled with a typical 6-to-8-channel mono- or stereo-powered mixer.

The system will be missing the pre-fader Cue/Solo functions that allow the operator to cue up songs on the CDs or cassettes, channel mute buttons, and functions that allow sub-groups to be mixed (like grouping all instruments or all vocals). These features are found in most stand-alone and high-cost powered mixers.

Powered & Unpowered Mixers. If you choose a powered mixer, you may need an additional power amplifier for stage monitors. Powered mixers designed with two separate mono amplifiers that can be configured for either main or monitor operation can eliminate the need for a separate monitor power amp, however the main mix will be run in mono. Expect to spend $650 to $1,000 for a powered mixer. Eight to 24 input mixing consoles range in price from $600 to $2,000. There are also some very cost-effective mixers with built-in effects that are perfect for small church systems (under $900 for 16 mic inputs, four line inputs).

For more flexible systems, a non-powered mixer is usually selected. With such a system, one is faced with either choosing the appropriate power amplifier and speaker combinations or eliminating the power amplifiers and electing to use the newer powered speaker systems. I am partial to the powered speakers for cost, performance and system reliability, but there are valid arguments for powered amplifiers and passive speakers. Over the past five years, the industry has exploded with many powered P.A. speaker system offerings, chiefly due to better design for sound quality, ease of use, and portability. Speaker selection is critical because it is very easy to make the selection on price alone, not on performance. If passive speakers are selected, expect to spend at least $500 to $600 per speaker and $450 to $700 for the power amplifiers. Excellent powered speakers are priced between $650 and $900 each. Remember that if you use powered speakers, the P.A. system will not need a compressor/limiter for system protection. A loud, sustained blast of high-frequency acoustic feedback and a big power amplifier will take out the high-frequency diaphragm in the compression driver if a compressor is not used to protect a non-self-powered speaker system. It is interesting to note that the cost of two powered speakers is about the same as it is for the discrete power amplifier and speaker combination, but with very little built-in protection.

Flat system power response is essential for good intelligibility and is more desirable than alleged extended bandwidth as shown in Figure 2. Note in the top graph that the frequency response is smooth both on and off axis, whereas in the bottom one there is a large power hole in the system response when one moves off axis. This system has a more hi-fi, up-front sound if — and only if — one is directly on axis; however, vocal articulation suffers in a reverberant environment.

Outboard Gear. I am sure many readers have noticed the conspicuous absence of any mention of signal processing equipment such as equalizers, digital effects and compressors. It has been my experience (reinforced by the P.A. market study) that the inclusion of compressors and equalizers can and do cause more harm than good when placed in the hands of inexperienced personnel.

CONGREGATIONAL SIZE AND SPACE

Church Startup. New church start-ups begin in a number of ways. The smallest is a gathering in a private home that grows to the point that larger facilities are needed to accommodate the additional members. Other startups are church plantings from an established body of believers. Usually, the congregation meets in some type of private local hall, business auditorium, school facility, funeral chapel or other civic facility. When the congregation is using borrowed facilities, the contractor is stuck with the existing room acoustics and must work around them. The new congregation in a facility situation like this is forced to set up and tear down their service each week. This involves setting up the chairs, the sound system and any musical instruments. Here, we are dealing with the classic portable system. With a little intelligent planning, almost all of the equipment can be used as the congregation grows. Remember that one of the most important attributes of a portable sound system is the number of trips to and from the van or truck. Would you rather move two 80-to-100-pound speaker boxes and a 30-to-50-pound amplifier rack or two 40-to-50 pound powered speakers?

Usually a system consisting of four microphones, a powered mixer and two speakers on speaker stands is best for startup churches. Such a system does not allow for future growth, although it can be purchased for under $2,000 with little or no technical support. A better system for a startup might consist of two powered speakers, two speaker stands, one cassette recorder and a CD player in a portable case, a small 8-to-16 input channel mixer, microphones, stands and cables. Depending on the powered speakers selected, the system should easily meet SPL and coverage needs of any type of service. Since it is likely that there are fewer than 100 congregation members, it will not be necessary to mike a 60-voice choir and have a 24-channel mixer. A target budget for such a system would land somewhere around $3,500 for everything.

Multipurpose Facilities. As the congregation grows, its members begin to look for a permanent home. They begin to think about the first phase of a building project. Good stewardship predicates that the building maximizes its utility because there are seldom enough funds to do everything at once. Therefore, many congregations opt to build a multipurpose worship space that can also serve as a meeting hall for meals, special programs and sport activities. I once visited such a place where the window casings were less than one standard volleyball width to prevent glass breakage when used as a gym, yet provided sufficient light for the Sunday morning service. So if a multipurpose facility is used and the speakers happen to be permanently installed, protection against flying objects would be advisable.

A small facility may occupy 900 square feet of floor space (30 feet by 30 feet or so) while most small spaces will hold around 100 to 150 people seated (50 feet by 60 feet, minimum). If the worship space has a regulation-sized basketball floor, the dimensions will be in excess of 55 feet by 110 feet, which is a area large enough to seat 450 to 550 people. This is no longer a “small church.” To promote a more intimate worship environment, many buildings adopt an architecture where the width of the building is approximately twice its length. In such cases, the speaker system is called on to cover at least 150 to 180 degrees of coverage. If a central cluster is used, this may require at least three systems with 60 to 90 degree coverage angles. Remember that we are discussing small, packaged systems here and not complex speaker arrays made of discrete hardware. In some acoustic environments, it may make more sense to use only two speakers on either side of the chancel area, as would be typically done in the portable case. In many cases, there is very little acoustic treatment in the room and, due to excessive reflections, it is too live. Simple acoustic treatment can be added to the room economically by suggesting the use of 3-inch-thick Owens Corning 703 fiberglass batts, covered with a suitable fabric and framed with a simple wood frame for placement on the walls. One must continually keep in mind that the operational budget of the church is probably between $50,000 and $250,000 per year, so funds are tight.

YOUR ROLE AS CONTRACTOR

If you are lucky enough to be involved in the planning phases of the building project, suggest that sufficient sound, video and telecom cable be pulled while it is easy and inexpensive to do so. Whatever you do, don't skimp on the microphone signal cable! There are, unfortunately, several brands of cables that exhibit up to a 15% to 20% unbalance in cable capacity from conductor to shield for the signal conductors due to cheap construction. If the cable runs are long, this unbalance in conductor-to-shield capacity will encourage RFI detection in most of the transformerless microphone input stages in the mixers currently on the market. Also of extreme importance is make sure that the sound system gets its own dedicated AC service that does not have a shared neutral with another service! Perhaps one of the most overlooked (and most misunderstood) technical issues is the proper AC power distribution for the system. Since the system will no doubt integrate both 3-wire safety-grounded equipment and 2-wire equipment with unbalanced inputs and outputs, proper AC power sequencing is essential. Again, see Figures 1a and 1b for the most basic concepts. It is essential that all of the small signal equipment derive its power from the same power strip. If there are remotely located power amplifiers, then a balanced I/O should be used between the mixer and the power amplifiers or powered speakers.

Designing and installing the system is the easy part. Determine the equipment requirements, work within the budget and close the sale. The single most important issue is realizing that, in almost every case, the sound system operator is a part-time volunteer, not a professional. Therein lies the root of most system problems. The field of knobs on the mixer often intimidates operators, as they really do not understand the system architecture. After all, if the wrong knob is turned, the resulting blast of feedback is very embarrassing. It is in the education and documentation phases of the project where the services of a professional will ensure successful equipment use. You are selling your service, not just equipment. Be prepared to spend a fair amount of time on these phases of the project. A common problem many church systems face is a not having a quick and easy “Return-to-Zero” initial setting chart to refer to when the sound system is readjusted by unsupervised helpers. The operator needs a map of the initial settings for the console and other equipment. This is one of the reasons why including a graphic equalizer or a compressor can be dangerous. If they are included in the system, some type of security cover must be used or the units will become misadjusted by either the church's helpers or by the operational personnel.

Cal Perkins is the Technical Director at Mackie Designs. Contact him at cal@mackie.com.