After fire, smoke and water caused considerable damage to the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of Elkhart in north Indiana in late 2012, the fully restored worship space recently reopened with brand new audio, video and lighting systems designed and installed by CSD Group Inc. of Ft. Wayne, IN.
- The new audio system includes a QSC KLA Active Line Array Loudspeaker System comprising 13 KLA12 12-inch, two-way elements in an LCR configuration plus a pair of KLA181 18-inch subwoofers, together with four KW181 self-powered 18-inch subs and a pair of K8 active front fills on the floor.
- According to Robbie Starkey, AVL Systems Consultant at CSD Group Inc., which focuses on the house of worship market, “The First Baptist Church has a relationship with Northview Church in Carmel, IN. Northview’s production guy has used the QSC K Series in their mobile church applications. He told them that these speakers sound really great—and they're both affordable and very reliable. So I had QSC draw up a design; they have the best quoting package in the industry by far. The First Baptist Church leadership, guided by Worship Pastor Matt Cox, selected the QSC system from among three other proposals.”
- The main KLA12 arrays are configured with four boxes at left and right plus five in a center hang. “The extra top box is shooting to the back balcony,” said Starkey, who got his first hands-on experience with the QSC rigging system at the church. “I'll be honest; I was a little leery at first about doing the installation myself. But we were so stressed with work that, even though that's not part of my job description, I went and hung the system and tuned it myself. You can fly five of those boxes instantly because of the ease of the QSC rigging hardware—it's the easiest in the world.”
- Not only did the ease of installation lower the overall cost of the system for the church, he continues, but the fact that the KLA12 arrays are compact yet powerful also fit the church leaders’ desired aesthetic. “They didn't want to have too many boxes hanging down really far from the ceiling, so the box count was relevant,” explained Starkey. “The presentation that QSC made was great, the price was great and the ease of installation was great. All those things factored into it. The church leaders were astonished at the end product, and they are ecstatic with how good it sounds.”
- CSD Group's design also included a new digital mixing system and wireless IEM for the praise band. The renovated sanctuary, which seats approximately 1000, also now includes a complete two screen HD video IMAG system as well as intelligent theatrical lighting.
- “We did a lot of research and QSC was definitely well-priced. I have friends who have used QSC and really loved the products. So we began to look at how we could put together a system for a 1000-seat auditorium,” added Pastor Cox, “I'm so glad we did. It's such a great system. The clarity and depth that the KLA Series loudspeakers have given us is exactly what we needed. So far, so good and we're so glad we went with QSC.”
