Grand Cayman Baptist Church was looking for a new high-powered sound system that would be capable of handling everything from a grand piano to contemporary worship and even hip-hop-style services. Washington state-based Halo Systems was commissioned to provide just such a system.
The challenge for Halo was the facility design, octagonal shaped with 40-foot ceilings. Seating for approximately 1,000 on both the main floor and balcony combined. Plus a full-width choir loft above and behind the stage. “Challenging corners, cavities and upper roof lines made for an extremely challenging acoustic environments,” notes Halo Systems audio systems design engineer Gary Ryan.
To meet the challenge, Halo Systems chose the dB Technologies DVA line array. “We’ve found the dB Technologies DVA product to be durable, powerful and sonically accurate loudspeakers,” says project manager Myron Wengerd.
Another reason Halo works with RCF USA and the dB Technologies products is because, “we find the company’s service and support to be very friendly and enjoy their willingness to work with us as a contractor/dealer. This support was consistent from the onset of the project to following through on questions after the products were installed.”
Wengerd goes on to note how the company went above and beyond in partnering on the project. While some of the dB product is available in white, “the option of white and the company’s willingness to custom paint additional cabinets was critical in this Caribbean decor-oriented room,” notes Wengerd.
Left and right arrays were comprised of six DVA-T8 active three-way modules along with one DVA-S10 18″ subwoofer. In addition, one DVX-D12 HP active 12″ two-way cabinet side/downfill plus one DVA-T4 module firing back into the choir loft for monitoring was added to the arrays. Two DVA-S30 active double 18″ subwoofers were built into retired pipe organ wall cavities on either side of the stage for additional low-frequency support. In addition, there were five DVA-T4 modules mounted under the front lip of the balcony as under-balcony fills.
“The acoustic challenges of the room made it even more impressive that the dB Technologies speakers were so easy to dial in,” explains Ryan. “The T8’s are very responsive to EQ’ing and general signal adjustments. And what else can you say about the power and performance of the DVA-S30 subs? They’re just amazing.”
As a final note, Ryan says, “ease of installation, set-up, use and tuning made us all look good while giving the customer more than they expected.”
The heart of the audio system includes a Yamaha CL5 digital console with remote stage racks totalling 64 inputs. The signal is routed via Dante through Symetrix Radius processing.
Halo Systems (www.halosystems.com) is an acoustic AVL company that has demonstrated a successful formula for building compelling acoustic solutions baased on the first-hand experience and knowledge of those that make up the Halo team – from award-winning musicians and highly skilled engineers, to acoustical designers that think beyond the everyday standard approaches. For nearly two decades Halo Systems has pioneered discoveries in room resonance, spatial harmonics, and spherical sound wave behavior, and is a global leader in the field of HD-Acoustics.
