When pastors Jeremy and Catherine Teague arrived at Resurrection Church, they faced an immediate challenge in engaging their congregation with their sermons and the music of the church’s praise band—a woefully inadequate P.A. system. Jeremy, who is well versed in audio, knew a complete AV makeover was in order. After consulting with account manager Derrick Ramirez of Irving, TX-based Sound Productions, he went all in on a QSC active line array system consisting of a total of four KLA12 cabinets and two KLA181 subwoofers.
“I came to the church a little over a year ago,” said Pastor Jeremy. “We were in the process of replacing everything from the board to the loudspeakers. There had been no investment in anything tech-wise in over 20 years, so of course the first priority during the pandemic was to get some sort of video streaming up and running. Next came full audio for services.”
Jeremy recalled just how under par for the space the previous P.A. system was: “The speakers we had before were too small for the space. Our sanctuary is about 9,000 square feet and seats 250 people, and these two little point-source speakers were about 300 watts a pop," he said. "They were flown from the ceiling at the wrong angle, so the sound was floating above the congregation. There were a lot of dead spots in the room, and also a serious problem with intelligibility.”
With the pandemic affecting supply chains worldwide, it was a race against time to get their new gear installed and delivered in time for Easter Sunday. Not everything made it in time, but the KLA line array did. “The P.A. was what arrived here first, so we got it up and running, which made for a night-and-day improvement over what we had been experiencing,” said Jeremy. “With two KLA12s and one KLA181 sub on each side, we were able to cover the whole room. There are no dead spots or places where the sound isn’t clear anymore.”
The magnitude of the change was a surprise even to Jeremy, who was excited about the new system but had concerns about some members of the congregation judging the new cabinets as too loud at first blush. "We’re a contemporary church and we want Sunday morning to be like an uplifting concert setting," he explained. "After the Easter service, one of our older members came up to me and said, ‘I see you got a new sound system.’ Of course, I’m expecting the loudness complaint next. Instead, he says, ‘I just want you to know that as long as I’ve been coming to church here, that was the first time I could ever understand the whole sermon!’ Again, the issue is intelligibility—people are fine with a worship environment being louder and livelier if they’re able to clearly understand the words and music.”
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Feedback from Resurrection Church’s worship musicians has been just as enthusiastic. “Our band includes five musicians and up to eight singers, with the instrumental players mostly on in-ear monitors,” Jeremy said. “Of course, they can still hear the mix in the room. They’ve told me it’s like a whole other church now.”
The KLA system’s coverage and intelligibility has also made a difference to the his all-important spiritual mission: delivering the Good News. “We definitely feel more of an emotional connection to the congregation,” said Jeremy. “When you’re preaching, one thing you do to hold people’s interest is, you vary the volume and tone of your voice—anything from a stage whisper to all-out hollering. People are able to experience that dynamic range so much better now. Previously, if we were talking too softly, we weren’t sure if everyone was hearing it. If we were too loud, we weren’t sure they were understanding it. It felt like a wall between us and everyone. The KLA system has broken down that wall and increased participation.”
