EAW Components Lead Upgrade At Olive Baptist Church
While the congregants of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida, are still enjoying their beautiful worship center built more than a decade ago, the sound reinforcement system has been significantly improved to better serve a myriad of needs, headlined by the addition of a wide range of EAW loudspeakers, including KF730 Series line arrays.
Bobby Taylor of leading systems provider All Pro Sound, Pensacola, worked closely with the Olive Baptist Audio-Video Specialist Kelly Ward to develop the new system. Primary focus was on implementing new loudspeaker technology within the worship center, which offers two levels surrounding the front platform in a fan-shaped configuration, with seating for almost 5,000. (Ward and Taylor are shown below, flanking Olive Baptist Worship Leader Dr. Leo Day.)
Two new EAW KF730 compact line arrays serve as the centerpiece of a left-center-right (LCR) loudspeaker approach. The original loudspeakers were retained to provide left and right output, with the critical center channel handled by dual arrays comprised of eight KF730 boxes. In between these two full-range arrays is another single array made up of four EAW SB730 flying subwoofers.
With the main loudspeakers located so high above the main floor, dual EAW UB42 compact loudspeakers were installed within the platform steps in order to pull the sonic image “down”, helping to match it with the people on stage. These loudspeakers are carefully time aligned in order to seamlessly achieve their purpose.
Meanwhile, single EAW UB82 compact full-range loudspeakers were added to “flanking” side walls of the platform – and stained to match the décor of their surroundings - to supply a bit more mid-high boost to raked seating zones on the extreme sides of the main floor. Again, careful time alignment keeps this in sync with the mains.
The original system also included 12 additional UB82 loudspeakers mounted equidistantly at the front of the balcony to bolster coverage to seating zones up there; however, with the improved output provided by the new line arrays, these are no longer needed. In fact, future plans call for them to be turned around to fire at the main floor, creating an immersive surround sound effect.
To bolster coverage to shadowed seating regions far under the balcony (primarily high-frequency energy), EAW JF50 compact loudspeakers mounted in their horizontal cabinet position, have been posted equidistantly. These have been pained to match their surroundings as well.
In the interests of dynamic full-range capability combined with the overall goal of very tight intelligibility, dual EAW BH760 horn-loaded subwoofers occupy each corner of the stage, paired up in corner areas for additional energy coupling. And, for true concert-style productions, four more EAW SB1000 dual-18-inch subwoofers can be rolled out on to platform and plugged in via the ample interconnect capability installed by All Pro Sound throughout the platform.
