DISCOVER CHURCH UPGRADES WITH MARTIN AUDIO WAVEFRONT PRECISION
A Wavefront Precision line array forms the centrepiece of a new AV upgrade at the Discover Church in Milwaukee, specified and installed by Martin Audio partner Avenue Systems.
The expanding ministry has undergone several campus extensions since 1969, culminating in a major renovation in 2022, which included the sanctuary. Avenue Systems were part of that renovation process. “This is the project that allowed for the installation of the new Martin Audio rig,” confirms founder and CEO, David Price. “We helped coordinate the design and integration for the newly renovated space.”
Avenue Systems were tasked with undertaking a full AV makeover of the main worship area and video control room, installing new audio, lighting, video, control and acoustical systems for every aspect of the main auditorium’s AV.
Explaining the requirement in more detail, Price confirmed that the PA would need sufficient versatility to reinforce typical modern worship, with full band, plus occasional choir and orchestra for special occasions in a room seating a little over 1800 congregants. “The church also conducts several special musical events throughout the year and hosts a smattering of professional Christian music artists and large conferences,” he added.
Martin Audio’s market leading Wavefront Precision line array was deemed best fit for purpose. “Although [the client] did not have prior experience we were able to arrange a demo for them before the renovation which helped facilitate a worship conference they were hosting in the space.
“The Martin Audio system has proven to be a worthwhile investment for our church"
“The demo is clearly what won the project. They were blown away by the clarity and performance of the system. It provided the necessary output for the special event, but using it over the weekend also displayed for them how well it performed even at lower levels for their regular weekend experience.”
Avenue Systems have been recommending Martin Audio solutions for several years. Their first project was a small CDD system for a client in Clearwater, FL. back in 2017. “We were immediately compelled by the performance and price point of the system so that Martin quickly became a staple for us in projects across the country.”
This grew in size and potency to the large system now deployed at the Discover Church.
Designed and optimised by the Avenue Systems technical team it comprises: 16 flown WPS (eight per side) as a stereo main array; 16 flown WPM (eight per side) as outfill arrays for the raked seating; a pair of flown SXH218 cardioid subwoofer arrays (each with three SXH218 elements) and eight of the popular DD6 front fill speakers, stationed on the lip of the stage. Finally, a pair of Martin Audio LE200 wedges provide the pastor with reference monitor sound.
All arrays are powered by Martin Audio’s iKON multi-channel process amplifiers in the optimum 1-box resolution—iK81s assigned to the arrays/fills and iK42s to the subwoofer arrays.
Visualisation and optimisation were carried out by a combination of Martin Audio’s DISPLAY2 and 3 proprietary software, along with EASE. “The system performed incredibly well … virtually straight out of the box,” said Price. “We did adjust the optimisation slightly to ‘hard avoid’ the balcony face, which added some additional clarity and minimized some odd reflections.”
Explaining his philosophy regarding room acoustics, he said, “The RT of the space was initially not bad—at roughly 1.75 seconds. The church did want to add some treatment to lower it to 1.5 or slightly less, but didn’t want to lose the character of the space they had come to know. They are a ‘spirit-filled’ congregation and value the congregational participation. It was a factor knowing that they didn’t want to ‘over treat’ the room. I knew the optimisation would be a great way to compensate for acoustical treatment by instead optimising the coverage. Although this was an unusual-shaped room, the rig handled it beautifully.”
The Church’s technical director Danelle Yacco agreed. “The Martin Audio system has proven to be a worthwhile investment for our church. We have noticed a dramatic improvement in sound quality, allowing for a truly immersive worship experience. The sound is clear and consistent, providing even coverage throughout the building—from the front row to the back, and up to the gallery.”
In summary, David Price praised the support of Martin Audio’s Joe Lima and Martha Callaghan. “They did an amazing job in helping to provide the demo system. The tech support from Martin Audio is always top notch.”