church overflow speaker solution

[Andrew[_2_]]

Hello. I am expanding the sound system in my small church so that we
can pipe audio into three overflow locations. Does anyone have any
recommendations on what speakers to buy to place in these overflow
rooms? Each room is under 600 sq ft., and they will be no more than
100 ft. from the mixer.
I would really appreciate any help, as I have no previous experience
as a sound tech - I will undoubtedly be back with more questions
later.

Thanks!
--Andrew

[Chris Hornbeck]

On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 20:39:15 -0700 (PDT), Andrew
> wrote:

> I am expanding the sound system in my small church so that we
>can pipe audio into three overflow locations. Does anyone have any
>recommendations on what speakers to buy to place in these overflow
>rooms? Each room is under 600 sq ft., and they will be no more than
>100 ft. from the mixer.

So, your existing sound system is one of "sound reinforcement"
rather than "PA"? IOW, for folks in the sanctuary, live, direct
sound predominates, and your sound system reinforces this sound?

Do your overflow areas open with large doors into the main
sanctuary? If so, how far are the openings from the pastor/
whatever-title-applies?

Do you anticipate any hearing-limitations issues in your
overflow rooms?

Might seem like a lot of questions in answer to a question,
but anything less is useless - this is system design with the
church's money, so needs careful consideration. The fact
that you're having to ask it now is proof that your predecessors
weren't so concientious.

All good fortune,
Chris Hornbeck

[Andrew[_2_]]

On Jul 1, 9:56*pm, Chris Hornbeck >
wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 20:39:15 -0700 (PDT), Andrew
>
> > wrote:
> > I am expanding the sound system in my small church so that we
> >can pipe audio into three overflow locations. Does anyone have any
> >recommendations on what speakers to buy to place in these overflow
> >rooms? Each room is under 600 sq ft., and they will be no more than
> >100 ft. from the mixer.
>
> So, your existing sound system is one of "sound reinforcement"
> rather than "PA"? IOW, for folks in the sanctuary, live, direct
> sound predominates, and your sound system reinforces this sound?
>
> Do your overflow areas open with large doors into the main
> sanctuary? If so, how far are the openings from the pastor/
> whatever-title-applies?
>
> Do you anticipate any hearing-limitations issues in your
> overflow rooms?
>
> Might seem like a lot of questions in answer to a question,
> but anything less is useless - this is system design with the
> church's money, so needs careful consideration. The fact
> that you're having to ask it now is proof that your predecessors
> weren't so concientious.
>
> All good fortune,
> Chris Hornbeck

Correct, the current system is reinforcement rather than PA.
One overflow is completely isolated from the main sanctuary, and the
other two have limited access through several large window frames.
The two overflows adjacent to the main sanctuary are about 80 ft. from
the pastor.
Thanks for your willingness to help out!

--Andrew

[Chris Hornbeck]

On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 21:38:57 -0700 (PDT), Andrew
> wrote:

>> > I am expanding the sound system in my small church so that we
>> >can pipe audio into three overflow locations. Does anyone have any
>> >recommendations on what speakers to buy to place in these overflow
>> >rooms? Each room is under 600 sq ft., and they will be no more than
>> >100 ft. from the mixer.

>Correct, the current system is reinforcement rather than PA.
>One overflow is completely isolated from the main sanctuary, and the
>other two have limited access through several large window frames.
>The two overflows adjacent to the main sanctuary are about 80 ft. from
>the pastor.

80 feet is a pretty big room, but not enough to cause issues, for your
church. You won't have to consider the mixture of sound from the
sanctuary with your SR, and the time difference between sight and
sound won't matter to you either. The windowed rooms are like TV.
You're golden.

If everything is mic'd (and everything will *have* to be mic'd to be
heard) already (like for recording), you can use this mix for your
overflow. If you don't make a separate recording mix, you might just
try the SR mix - slip in and listen for yourself. If you're lucky, and
you might well be, the SR mix will have enough dialog in it, as-is.
If not, an aux-buss mix heavy on vocals and a separate amp feed
for the isolated rooms is the ticket.


Still haven't answered your original question about speakers, but
that's the very last issue to be raised - first we gotta get the
right mix, then we need to address the audience. Will your
parishioners need anything special, maybe due to hearing issues?

IOW, does everybody in the overflow rooms get the same sound?

All the best fortune,
Chris Hornbeck

[Arny Krueger]

"Andrew" > wrote in message


> Hello. I am expanding the sound system in my small church
> so that we can pipe audio into three overflow locations.

> Does anyone have any recommendations on what speakers to
> buy to place in these overflow rooms? Each room is under
> 600 sq ft., and they will be no more than 100 ft. from
> the mixer.

I had this need some years back in our Narthex, and satisfied it with a pair
of small Infinity "Studio Monitors" driven by a 100 wpc power amp and
tailored for the room with a couple of parametric eqs. The main chore for
the parametric eqs was created by mounting the speakers near the ceiling,
which caused a tremendous increase in bass.

There is a consensus that the sound in the Narthex is far better than the
sound in the sanctuary. The Narthex has a carpeted floor and an acoustical
tile ceiling, while the Sanctuary is one of those long. high, and skinny
traditional highly reverberant boxes with almost no absorbent and few
diffusive elements.